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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Prog Neurobiol. 2022 Mar 11;213:102264. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2022.102264

Figure 3. Astrocyte reflexive processes and their structural support to neurites.

Figure 3.

A1) Serial 2D EM images of astrocyte branchlets (pink) encircling a dendritic shaft (orange). The bottom image in the left panel exhibits a reflexive contact (boxed in green). Higher magnification images in the right panel clearly show the contact depicted in z slice 24. A2) 3D reconstruction showing the astrocyte branchlets (pink) wrap around the dendrite (orange). Two axons (white) in synaptic contact with the associated dendritic spines are also represented. B1) 2D serial EM images of a branch point at the end of an astrocyte root process (purple) that splits into two branchlets, which enwrap a bundle of axons (white). Note the astrocyte reflexive contact in the middle panel (magnified on right side). B2) Side view of a 3D reconstruction of the axons (white) protruding through the enwrapment of the purple astrocyte process. All 3D reconstructions throughout the figure originated from the same astrocyte regions depicted in the corresponding 2D EM traces.