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The Journal of Neuroscience, January 15, 2000, 20(2):626-638
Switching Off and On of Synaptic Sites at
Aplysia Sensorimotor Synapses
Sebastien
Royer,
Rosalind L.
Coulson, and
Marc
Klein
Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and University of Montreal,
Centre de Recherches en Sciences Neurologiques, Montreal, Quebec H2W
1R7, Canada
Using the highly plastic synapses between mechanoreceptor sensory
neurons and siphon motor neurons of Aplysia as a model, we have investigated whether switching off and on of individual synaptic release sites is a strategy that is used by neurons in forms
of short-term synaptic modulation with a time course of minutes to
hours. We have modified some of the techniques of classical quantal
analysis and examined the kinetics of synaptic depression under
different stimulation protocols to answer this question. Our analysis
shows that both synaptic depression caused by homosynaptic activity and
synaptic facilitation induced by an endogenous facilitatory transmitter
occur by means of the shutting off and turning on, respectively, of
synaptic sites, without intermediate changes in the probability of
release. Our findings imply that other forms of plasticity at these
synapses, such as post-tetanic potentiation, long-term facilitation,
and long-term potentiation, are also expressed by all-or-none changes
in activity at individual sites. We thus show that in addition to the
mechanisms of synaptic integration that are known to operate in single
cells and networks, neurons can exercise a further layer of fine
control, at the level of individual release sites.
Key words:
synaptic transmission; synaptic plasticity; synaptic
depression; synaptic facilitation; transmitter release; quantal
analysis; miniature synaptic potentials
Copyright © 2000 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/00/202626-13$05.00/0
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