A fundamental issue in synaptic physiology is whether the postsynaptic response to a quantum of transmitter is limited by the number of receptors available. Fierce debate over the past few years has yielded no consensus. The majority of evidence suggests that the degree of receptor occupancy is likely to be sensitive to a number of factors, including the detailed anatomy of the synaptic cleft and the time course of transmitter clearance, and is probably different from one synapse to the next.