Astrocyte glucocorticoid receptor signalling restricts neuronal plasticity
- 1Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- 2Department of Neurology, F. M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- 3Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. [email protected]
Abstract
, the environmental cues that restrain developmental plasticity as animals mature are less clear. Here we examine the experience-dependent maturation of the mouse primary visual cortex across postnatal development using paired single-cell transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility sequencing. In addition to identifying the activity-dependent gene programs that emerge within each cortical cell type, we find that light exposure drives astrocyte maturation through cell-type-specific recruitment of the glucocorticoid receptor (encoded by Nr3c1) to chromatin. Astrocyte glucocorticoid receptor signalling activates an extensive gene regulatory program that is partially conserved in human brain development and promotes maturation processes that may regulate critical period closure. Collectively, these findings reveal that astrocyte glucocorticoid receptor signalling restricts neuronal plasticity. Glucocorticoid regulation of astrocyte maturation may also contribute to the effects of early-life stress across the brain, and the disruption of this process may increase susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disease.
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BibTeX
@article{gegenhuber2026astrocyte,
title = {{Astrocyte glucocorticoid receptor signalling restricts neuronal plasticity}},
author = {Bruno Gegenhuber and Takuma Sonoda and Lisa Traunmüller and Christopher P. Davis and Shon A. Koren and Eric C. Griffith and Chinfei Chen and Michael E. Greenberg},
journal = {Nature},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1038/s41586-026-10512-9},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10512-9},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Astrocyte glucocorticoid receptor signalling restricts neuronal plasticity
AU - Bruno Gegenhuber
AU - Takuma Sonoda
AU - Lisa Traunmüller
AU - Christopher P. Davis
AU - Shon A. Koren
AU - Eric C. Griffith
AU - Chinfei Chen
AU - Michael E. Greenberg
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/20
JO - Nature
DO - 10.1038/s41586-026-10512-9
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10512-9
AB - , the environmental cues that restrain developmental plasticity as animals mature are less clear. Here we examine the experience-dependent maturation of the mouse primary visual cortex across postnatal development using paired single-cell transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility sequencing. In addition to identifying the activity-dependent gene programs that emerge within each cortical cell type, we find that light exposure drives astrocyte maturation through cell-type-specific recruitment of the glucocorticoid receptor (encoded by Nr3c1) to chromatin. Astrocyte glucocorticoid receptor signalling activates an extensive gene regulatory program that is partially conserved in human brain development and promotes maturation processes that may regulate critical period closure. Collectively, these findings reveal that astrocyte glucocorticoid receptor signalling restricts neuronal plasticity. Glucocorticoid regulation of astrocyte maturation may also contribute to the effects of early-life stress across the brain, and the disruption of this process may increase susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disease.
SN - 0028-0836
SN - 1476-4687
ER -