Genesis of a functional astrocyte syncytium in the developing mouse hippocampus

Astrocytes are increasingly shown to operate as an isopotential syncytium in brain function. Protoplasmic astrocytes acquire this ability to functionally go beyond the single-cell level by evolving into a spongiform morphology, cytoplasmically connecting into a syncytium, and expressing a high density of K⁺ conductance. However, none of these cellular/functional features exist in neonatal newborn astrocytes, which imposes a basic question of when a functional syncytium evolves in the developing brain. Our results show that the spongiform morphology of individual astrocytes and their spatial organization all reach stationary levels by postnatal day (P) 15 in the hippocampal CA1 region. Functionally, astrocytes begin to uniformly express a mature level of passive K⁺ conductance by P11. We next used syncytial isopotentiality measurement to monitor the maturation of the astrocyte syncytium. In uncoupled P1 astrocytes, the substitution of endogenous K⁺ by a Na⁺ -electrode solution ([Na⁺ ]_p ) resulted in the total elimination of the physiological membrane potential (V_M ), and outward K⁺ conductance as predicted by the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz (GHK) equation. As more astrocytes are coupled to each other through gap junctions during development, the [Na⁺ ]_p -induced loss of physiological V_M and the outward K⁺ conductance is progressively compensated by the neighboring astrocytes. By P15, a stably established syncytial isopotentiality (-73 mV), and a fully compensated outward K⁺ conductance appeared in all [Na⁺ ]_p -recorded astrocytes. Thus, in view of the developmental timeframe wherein a singular syncytium is anatomically and functionally established for intra-syncytium K⁺ equilibration, an astrocyte syncytium becomes fully operational at P15 in the mouse hippocampus.