HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY published: 03 September 2021 doi: 10.3389/fncel.2021.693095 Review and Hypothesis: A Potential Common Link Between Glial Cells, Calcium Changes, Modulation of Synaptic Transmission, Spreading Depression, Migraine, and Epilepsy—H+ Robert Paul Malchow 1,2*, Boriana K. Tchernookova 1, Ji-in Vivien Choi 1,3, Peter J. S. Smith 4,5, Richard H. Kramer 6 and Matthew A. Kreitzer 7 1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States, 2Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States, 3Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Maywood, IL, United States, 4Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Southampton, United Kingdom, 5Bell Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, United States, 6Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, 7Department of Biology, Indiana Edited by: Wesleyan University, Marion, IN, United States Wannan Tang, University of Oslo, Norway There is significant evidence to support the notion that glial cells can modulate Reviewed by: the strength of synaptic connections between nerve cells, and it has further been Ana Lucia Marques Ventura, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil suggested that alterations in intracellular calcium are likely to play a key role in this Erik B. Malarkey, process. However, the molecular mechanism(s) by which glial cells modulate neuronal Vertex Pharmaceuticals (United States), United States signaling remains contentiously debated. Recent experiments have suggested that alterations in extracellular H efflux initiated by extracellular ATP may play a key role *Correspondence: C Robert Paul Malchow in the modulation of synaptic strength by radial glial cells in the retina and astrocytes
[email protected] throughout the brain.