Astrocytes express a large variety of G~protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) which mediate the transduction of extracellular signals into intracellular calcium responses. This transduction is provided by a complex network of biochemical reactions which mobilizes a wealth of possible calcium-mobilizing second messenger molecules. Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate is probably the best known of these molecules whose enzymes for its production and degradation are nonetheless calcium-dependent. We present a biophysical modeling approach based on the assumption of Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics, to effectively describe GPCR-mediated astrocytic calcium signals. Our model is then used to study different mechanisms at play in stimulus encoding by shape and frequency of calcium oscillations in astrocytes.
@article{arxiv.1801.06606,
title = {G protein-coupled receptor-mediated calcium signaling in astrocytes},
author = {Maurizio De Pittà and Eshel Ben-Jacob and Hugues Berry},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.06606},
year = {2018}
}