Figure 3
From: Engineering calcium signaling of astrocytes for neural–molecular computing logic gates
Wet lab experiments of the logic gate input control for an astrocyte population in-vitro. (a) The pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 plasmid used to engineer the threshold of the astrocytes in the experiments. In (b) the percentage of intracellular \(\hbox {Ca}^{2+}\) concentration over five in-vitro setups: no pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 (no gene), pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 (genes only), no pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 with compounds (compounds only), pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 with compounds at 25 \(\upmu \)M (genes and compounds) and pcDNA3.1-hGPR17 with compounds at 50 \(\upmu \)M (genes and compounds). We also have provided an comparison between the experimental results and the computational models for AND and OR gates. Thresholds values are set based on the gate type as well as the \(\hbox {Ca}^{2+}\) signal levels coming from the gates inputs. Based on these results, we observe the levels of fluctuation of the \(\hbox {Ca}^{2+}\) signals that affect the performance of the logic operations. In (c) we show the intracellular \(\hbox {Ca}^{2+}\) variation over time for both compounds. In (d) we show the increasing \(\hbox {Ca}^{2+}\) concentration observed by the fluorescent light effect of in-vitro astrocyte cultures with compound concentrations of 25 \(\upmu \)M and 50 \(\upmu \)M for the AND gate with the MDL29, 951 compound and the OR gate with the T0510.3657.
