diff --git a/elements/astrocyte/appunti/2026-06-04-modulation-of-future-behavior.md b/elements/astrocyte/appunti/2026-06-04-modulation-of-future-behavior.md index 2b708d6..183a4b0 100644 --- a/elements/astrocyte/appunti/2026-06-04-modulation-of-future-behavior.md +++ b/elements/astrocyte/appunti/2026-06-04-modulation-of-future-behavior.md @@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ At the slow scale, all three compartments track their own physical architecture: ## Fast scale: what happens spike by spike -Every action potential sets off a precise sequence across all three compartments simultaneously. The presynapse converts the electrical event into a chemical wavefront: calcium floods in, drives probabilistic vesicle release from the readily-releasable pool, and leaves a residual trace that biases the next release upward if spikes keep arriving and downward if they stop. The amount of glutamate released fills the cleft and begins diffusing outward. +Every action potential sets off a precise sequence across all three compartments simultaneously. + +The presynapse converts the electrical event into a chemical wavefront: calcium floods in, drives probabilistic vesicle release from the readily-releasable pool, and leaves a residual trace that biases the next release upward if spikes keep arriving and downward if they stop. The amount of glutamate released fills the cleft and begins diffusing outward. The astrocyte responds in two parallel arms the moment glutamate spills beyond the cleft boundary. The first arm activates astrocytic mGluR5 receptors via a Gq cascade, triggering an internal calcium rise that is directly proportional to how much glutamate has escaped — this calcium rise drives D-serine release, widening the postsynaptic NMDA detection window. The second arm simultaneously activates presynaptic mGluR2/3 receptors via Gi, suppressing adenylyl cyclase and reducing vesicle release probability — a direct autoinhibitory brake on the very source of the overflow. These two arms run in opposite directions from the same trigger: the astrocyte brakes the presynapse while amplifying the postsynaptic learning window at the same time.