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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 1, 2001, 21(7):2206-2214

Postsynaptic Calcium Transients Evoked by Activation of Individual Hippocampal Mossy Fiber Synapses

Christopher A. Reid¹, Ruth Fabian-Fine², and Alan Fine^{1, 3}

¹ Division of Neurophysiology, National Institute for Medical Research, London NW7 1AA, United Kingdom, ² Department of Biological Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom, and ³ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4H7, Canada

Control of Ca²⁺ within dendritic spines is critical for excitatory synaptic function and plasticity, but little is known about Ca²⁺ dynamics at thorny excrescences, the complex spines on hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells contacted by mossy fiber terminals of dentate granule cell axons. We have monitored subthreshold stimulus-dependent postsynaptic Ca²⁺ transients in optically and ultrastructurally characterized complex spines and find that such spines can act as discrete units of Ca²⁺ response. In contrast to the more common "simple" spines, synaptically evoked Ca²⁺ transients at complex spines have only a small NMDA receptor-dependent component and do not involve release of calcium from internal stores. Instead, they result mainly from AMPA receptor-gated Ca²⁺ influx through voltage-activated calcium channels on the spine; these channels provide graded amplification of the response of thorny excrescences to individual mossy fiber synaptic events.

Key words: hippocampus; dendritic spine; mossy fiber synapse; CA3 pyramidal neuron; calcium dynamics; subthreshold stimulation; active spine membrane; voltage-activated calcium channels; thorny excrescence; electron microscopy

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Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/01/2172206-09$05.00/0

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