RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Stability and Plasticity of Developing Synapses in Hippocampal Neuronal Cultures
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 775
OP 781
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-03-00775.2002
VO 22
IS 3
A1 F. Woodward Hopf
A1 Jack Waters
A1 Samar Mehta
A1 Stephen J. Smith
YR 2002
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/22/3/775.abstract
AB To explore mechanisms governing the formation, stability, and elimination of synapses during neuronal development, we used FM 1–43 fluorescence imaging to track vesicle turnover at >7000 individually identified developing synapses between embryonic rat hippocampal neurons in culture. The majority of presynaptic boutons were stable in efficacy and position over a period of 1.5 hr. Activity, evoked by burst-patterned field stimulation, decreased presynaptic function across the population of boutons, an effect that required NMDA receptor activation. Decreased FM 1–43 staining correlated with low synapsin-I and synaptophysin immunoreactivities, suggesting that decreased presynaptic function was commensurate with synaptic disassembly. These observations provide new information on the stability of developing presynaptic function and suggest that NMDA receptor activation may regulate the stability of developing synapses.