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Updated: Mar 10, 2026
Imaging Intracellular Ca2+ Signals in Striatal Astrocytes from Adult Mice Using Genetically-encoded Calcium Indicators
Published on: November 19, 2014
New Transgenic Mouse Lines for Selectively Targeting Astrocytes and Studying Calcium Signals in Astrocyte Processes
Rahul Srinivasan1, Tsai-Yi Lu1, Hua Chai1
1Department of Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1751, USA.
Abstract:
Astrocytes exist throughout the nervous system and are proposed to affect neural circuits and behavior. However, studying astrocytes has proven difficult because of the lack of tools permitting astrocyte-selective genetic manipulations. Here, we report the generation of Aldh1l1-Cre/ERT2 transgenic mice to selectively target astrocytes in vivo. We characterized Aldh1l1-Cre/ERT2 mice using imaging, immunohistochemistry, AAV-FLEX-GFP microinjections, and crosses to RiboTag, Ai95, and new Cre-dependent membrane-tethered Lck-GCaMP6f knockin mice that we also generated. Two to three weeks after tamoxifen induction, Aldh1l1-Cre/ERT2 selectively targeted essentially all adult (P80) brain astrocytes with no detectable neuronal contamination, resulting in expression of cytosolic and Lck-GCaMP6f, and permitting subcellular astrocyte calcium imaging during startle responses in vivo. Crosses with RiboTag mice allowed sequencing of actively translated mRNAs and determination of the adult cortical astrocyte transcriptome. Thus, we provide well-characterized, easy-to-use resources with which to selectively study astrocytes in situ and in vivo in multiple experimental scenarios.
