  Astrocytes express a large variety of G~protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)
which mediate the transduction of extracellular signals into intracellular
calcium responses. This transduction is provided by a complex network of
biochemical reactions which mobilizes a wealth of possible calcium-mobilizing
second messenger molecules. Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate is probably the best
known of these molecules whose enzymes for its production and degradation are
nonetheless calcium-dependent. We present a biophysical modeling approach based
on the assumption of Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics, to effectively describe
GPCR-mediated astrocytic calcium signals. Our model is then used to study
different mechanisms at play in stimulus encoding by shape and frequency of
calcium oscillations in astrocytes.
