Astroglial cannabinoid signaling and behavior

In neuroscience, the explosion of innovative and advanced technical accomplishments is fundamental to understanding brain functioning. For example, the possibility to distinguish glial and neuronal activities at the synaptic level and/or the appearance of new genetic tools to specifically monitor and manipulate astroglial functions revealed that astrocytes are involved in several facets of behavioral control. In this sense, the discovery of functional presence of type-1 cannabinoid receptors in astrocytes has led to identify important behavioral responses mediated by this specific pool of cannabinoid receptors. Thus, astroglial type-1 cannabinoid receptors are in the perfect place to play a role in a complex scenario in which astrocytes sense neuronal activity, release gliotransmitters and modulate the activity of other neurons, ultimately controlling behavioral responses. In this review, we will describe the known behavioral implications of astroglial cannabinoid signaling and highlight exciting unexplored research avenues on how astroglial cannabinoid signaling could affect behavior. ; The authors would like to acknowledge the rest of the “Cell-type mechanisms in normal and pathological behavior” Research Group for their support and for the constant scientific discussion in the group. This work was supported by the IBRO Return Home Fellowships 2019 and the ERC starting Grant (HighMemory, #948217) received by ABG. A. Busquets-Garcia is a Ramon y Cajal researcher (RYC-2017-21776, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FSE).