Temperature Impacts on Transient Receptor Potential Channel Mediated Calcium Oscillations in Astrocytes

We computationally study the possible effects of thermosensitive transient receptor potential (TRP) channels on the spontaneous calcium oscillations in astrocytes at various temperatures. Based on the previous model and the result of thermosensitive TRP channels' open probabilities, some meaningful conclusions are obtained. It is shown that the occurrence of calcium oscillations depends on temperature and the molar heat capacity difference between the closed and open channels (\Delta C_\rm p). The data indicate that calcium oscillations in astrocytes occurred in the ranges of 7^\circ\!C–11^\circ\!C and 27^\circ\!C–30^\circ\!C when \Delta C_\rm p is 16 kJ\cdotmol^-1\cdotK^-1, and calcium oscillations only occur in the range of 27^\circ\!C–30^\circ\!C when \Delta C_\rm p is 2 kJ\cdotmol^-1\cdotK^-1. In this study, the frequency decreases rapidly at temperatures ranging from 7^\circ\!C to 11^\circ\!C, and there is a contrary result in the range of 27^\circ\!C–30^\circ\!C.