Title: “Astroglial mediated control of breathing in health and disease”

Speaker: Dr Ginny Hawkins, Manchester Metropolitan University

My labs focus is on the roles of neuron-glial-vascular communication that contribute to human respiratory pathologies, including respiratory compromise associated with injury and age-related brain disorders. Astrocytes and the local neurovasculature within brainstem respiratory centers (in particular the Retrotrapezoid Nucleus) are specialised to support the central drive to breathe. Astrocyte potassium ion channels along with purinergic signalling have been shown to mediate the mechanisms in which brainstem astrocytes contribute to respiratory output, and there is evidence that expression levels of both these components alter with age and in neuropathology. This will be the focus of my talk, where I will show that Kir4.1 potassium channels and P2Y2 receptors are key players in astrocyte mediated chemoreception contributing to respiratory drive and present our preliminary findings of how they may be altered in neurodegenerative disease.