Paired-pulse depression of unitary quantal amplitude at single hippocampal synapses

Gong Chen; Nobutoshi C Harata; Richard W Tsien

doi:10.1073/pnas.0307149101

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Paired-pulse depression of unitary quantal amplitude at single hippocampal synapses

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Paired-pulse depression of unitary quantal amplitude at single hippocampal synapses

Gong Chen, Nobutoshi C Harata and Richard W Tsien

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.101(4), pp.1063-1068

01/27/2004

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0307149101

PMCID: PMC327151

PMID: 14722357

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Abstract

At central synapses, quantal size is generally regarded as fluctuating around a fixed mean with little change during short-term synaptic plasticity. We evoked quantal release by brief electric stimulation at single synapses visualized with FM 1-43 dye in hippocampal cultures. The majority of quantal events evoked at single synapses were monovesicular, based on examination of amplitude distribution of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid-receptor-mediated responses. Consistent with previous findings, the quantal size did not change during paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), supporting the notion that the evoked events were monoquantal. However, during paired-pulse depression (PPD), there was a significant decrease in unitary quantal size, which was not due to postsynaptic receptor desensitization. This asymmetry of quantal modulation during PPF and PPD was demonstrated at the same single synapse at different extracellular calcium concentrations. Our results indicate that PPF can be fully accounted for by an increase of release probability, whereas PPD may be caused by decreases in both release probability and quantal size. One possible explanation is that the release of a quantum of neurotransmitter from synaptic vesicles is not invariant but subject to rapid calcium-dependent modulation during short-term synaptic plasticity.

Electric Stimulation

Hippocampus - physiology

Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials

Synapses - physiology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Paired-pulse depression of unitary quantal amplitude at single hippocampal synapses
Creators: Gong Chen - Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Beckman Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Nobutoshi C Harata
Richard W Tsien
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.101(4), pp.1063-1068
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0307149101
PMID: 14722357
PMCID: PMC327151
NLM abbreviation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN: 0027-8424
eISSN: 1091-6490
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences; United States
Language: English
Date published: 01/27/2004
Academic Unit: Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Record Identifier: 9984025407902771

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