Features of Calcium Activity of Astrocytes in Physiological and Accelerated Aging In Vitro

In the last decade, glial cells, primarily astrocytes, have received increasing attention in studying various aspects of brain functioning. Although astrocytes are not electrically excitable cells, they are able to generate and transmit Ca²⁺ signals, which can propagate from cell to cell, forming «calcium waves». Calcium signaling allows astrocytes to interact with each other, as well as regulate neuronal function. Despite numerous studies on calcium events in astrocytes under various pathological conditions, the features of astrocytic calcium dynamics in aging are currently understudied. Our work aimed to analyze the features of calcium activity in primary astrocyte cultures during physiological and accelerated aging, as well as to assess the effect of hypoxic damage on calcium activity. For this purpose, we developed an algorithm for the accurate detection of calcium events and the calculation of indicators describing the main parameters of calcium events in a cell. It was shown that the frequency of calcium event generation in astrocytes decreases during aging while their duration and amplitude increase. Hypoxia aggravates the changes caused by cell aging.