An electrodiffusive formalism was developed for computing the dynamics of the membrane potential
and ion concentrations in the intra- and extracellular space in a one-dimensional geometry (cable). This (general) formalism was implemented in a model of astrocytes exchanging K+, Na+ and Cl- ions with the extracellular space (ECS).
A limited region (0< x<l/10 where l is the astrocyte length) of the ECS was exposed to an increase in the local K+ concentration. The model is used to explore how astrocytes contribute in transporting K+ out from high-concentration regions via a mechanism known as spatial buffering, which involves local uptake from high concentration regions, intracellular transport, and release of K+ in regions with lower ECS concentrations.
Reference:
1 .
Halnes G, Ostby I, Pettersen KH, Omholt SW, Einevoll GT (2013) Electrodiffusive model for astrocytic and neuronal ion concentration dynamics. PLoS Comput Biol 9:e1003386 [PubMed]
|