Movie of calcium wave in astrocytes

Cultured astrocytes loaded with the fluorescent calcium-sensitive dye, fluo-3, are gently stimulated by touching with glass pipette in the top left corner. The wave of calcium rapidly alerts cells to nearby mechanical stimulus, causing changes in colour and brightness as the calcium wave passes through cells. This signal may instruct cells to make more energy or synthesise more proteins, for example. Images were taken on a Zeiss LSM510 Confocal Microscope. Biomedical Image Awards 1999.