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Cortical calcium waves in resting newborn mice

Nature Neuroscience volume 8, pages 988–990 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Using a new optical fiber–based approach, we demonstrate the presence of recurrent Ca2+ transients in cortical neurons of non-anesthetized newborn mice in vivo. These Ca2+ waves reflect the correlated activity of thousands of cells and were detected only in resting, but not in moving pups. Our results suggest that Ca2+-dependent cortical maturation occurs predominantly during the intermittent sleep-like resting periods that are characteristic for the first days of postnatal life.

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Figure 1: In vivo recordings of spontaneous Ca2+ waves in the neonatal cortex.
Figure 2: Comparison of Ca2+ waves recorded in vivo and in brain slices.
Figure 3: Spontaneous Ca2+ waves in behaving mice.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. Rucker and M. Noll-Hussong for technical help and J. Davis for comments on the manuscript. The work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Author notes

  1. Helmuth Adelsberger and Olga Garaschuk: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiologisches Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Pettenkoferstr. 12, München, 80336, Germany

    Helmuth Adelsberger, Olga Garaschuk & Arthur Konnerth

Authors
  1. Helmuth Adelsberger
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  2. Olga Garaschuk
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  3. Arthur Konnerth
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arthur Konnerth.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Identification of cell types contributing to the Ca2+ waves. (PDF 723 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Sensitivity of spontaneous Ca2+ waves to anesthetics. (PDF 223 kb)

Supplementary Note (PDF 84 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 105 kb)

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Adelsberger, H., Garaschuk, O. & Konnerth, A. Cortical calcium waves in resting newborn mice. Nat Neurosci 8, 988–990 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1502

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