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The Journal of Neuroscience, December 1, 2002, 22(23):10267-10276
Quantal Size and Variation Determined by Vesicle Size in Normal
and Mutant Drosophila Glutamatergic Synapses
Shanker
Karunanithi1,
Leo
Marin1,
Kar
Wong2, and
Harold L.
Atwood1
Departments of 1 Physiology and
2 Statistics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M5S 1A8
Quantal size and variation at chemical synapses could be determined
presynaptically by the amount of neurotransmitter released from
synaptic vesicles or postsynaptically by the number of receptors available for activation. We investigated these possibilities at
Drosophila glutamatergic neuromuscular synapses formed
by two separate motor neurons innervating the same muscle cell. At
wild-type synapses of the two neurons we found a difference in quantal
size corresponding to a difference in mean synaptic vesicle volume. The
same finding applied to two mutants (dlg and
lap) in which synaptic vesicle size was altered. Quantal
variances at wild-type and mutant synapses were similar and could be
accounted for by variation in vesicular volume. The linear relationship
between quantal size and vesicular volume for several different
genotypes indicates that glutamate is regulated homeostatically
to the same intravesicular concentration in all cases. Thus functional
differences in synaptic strength among glutamatergic neurons of
Drosophila result in part from intrinsic differences in
vesicle size.
Key words:
neuromuscular junction; Drosophila; vesicle
size; dlg mutant; quantal size; quantal variance; glutamate; tumor suppressor genes; synaptic transmission; synaptic strength; ultrastructure; lap mutant
Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/02/222310267-10$05.00/0
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