Does Memory Depend on the Neuron-Astrocyte Relationship?
Many authors have speculated on the involvement of astrocytes in memory and CNS plasticity (32, 33). The neuron-astrocyte theory here, however, proposes that the infotropic character of astrocytes is crucial to the cellular basis of associative memory. Also, neuroplasticity may more properly be termed neuronal-astrocytic plasticity, with the astrocytes’ capacity to influence groups of synapses compromised only by the degree to which they have already organized these groups. Biological imprinting that occurs within defined critical periods of many species might represent a more permanent infotropically mediated astrocytic organization of synaptic domains. This premise is supported by the work of Muller and Best (34), who reinduced ocular-dominance plasticity in adult animals by supplementing the adult visual cortex with astrocytes cultured from the visual cortex of newborn animals.
