Astrocyte molecular changes during basolateral amygdala-related emotional behaviors [set8]

Astrocytes tile the central nervous system (CNS) and have fundamental roles in physiology and disease, yet there remain open questions about their contributions to physiological and pathological processes in the CNS. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) integrates rewarding and aversive stimuli and is integral to mood regulation and emotional behaviors. As many past studies have focused on neurons in the BLA, the contribution of BLA astrocytes to emotional behaviors is largely unknown. A major bottleneck has been the paucity of reliable tools to explore astrocyte functions and molecular mechanisms in vivo. This shortfall has been addressed by recent developments in the field reporting approaches to systematically explore the role of astrocytes with improved tools. Here, we used several such tools to elucidate BLA astrocytic changes during emotional behavioral responses. Applying several mouse models of stress (negative emotional triggers) and astrocyte-specific adenoassociated viruses (AAVs), [Ca2+] imaging, RNA sequencing, and proteomics, we explored the role of astrocytes at the molecular and cellular level in the BLA. We analyzed the data to evaluate how astrocytes might be exploited in vivo to improve behavioral outcomes in emotion-related disorders such as anxiety and depression.