Synaptic transmission is the process by which neurons in our brain communicate with each other. It happens when electrical signals, known as action potentials, travel down a neuron and reach its end, called the terminal. At the terminal, the electrical signal is converted into a chemical signal called a neurotransmitter. This chemical signal crosses a tiny gap called the synapse and binds to receptors on another neuron, transmitting the message from one neuron to the next. This allows the brain to send and receive information, enabling various functions and behaviors.
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Consistent with recent studies of such changes, we find that long - lasting potentiation of
synaptic transmission between cultured hippocampal neurons is accompanied by an increase in the number of clusters of postsynaptic glutamate receptors containing the subunit GluR1.
They further established that LM22A - 4 exerts these effects by subduing
excitatory synaptic transmission and network activity in hippocampal slices to levels amenable for the induction of synaptic plasticity and behavioural learning and memory.
Working from the same data that revealed the brain waves, the team found the source was also moving too slow
for synaptic transmission and a little too fast for diffusion.
These results contrast with traditional knockout mice, where compensatory mechanisms mean that knockout of either PDS95 or PDS93 have no effect
on synaptic transmission (Elias 2006).
They play a pivotal role in
regulating synaptic transmission, modulating excitotoxicity responsible for much of the neuronal damage caused by hypoxic insult in the brain [37], and are expressed in retinal photoreceptors, horizontal cells, and bipolar cells as well as the amacrine and ganglion cells of the inner retina [38 — 41].
In contrast, all of the effects of the biogenic amine and peptide neurotransmitters, as well as many of the effects of glutamate and GABA, are achieved over hundreds of milliseconds to minutes by
slow synaptic transmission.
Slow - acting neurotransmitters control the efficacy of
fast synaptic transmission by regulating the efficiency of neurotransmitter release from presynaptic terminals and by regulating the efficiency with which fast - acting neurotransmitters produce their effects on postsynaptic receptors.
By the 1980s, it was well established that nerve cells communicate through the process of
chemical synaptic transmission at specialized contacts called synapses.
YanGang Sun, Chia - Shan Wu, John J Renger, Victor N. Uebele, Hui - Chen Lu, Michael Beierlein (2012) «
GABAergic synaptic transmission triggers action potentials in thalamic reticular nucleus neurons», Journal of Neuroscience.
Title:
Synaptic transmission changes in fear memory circuits underlie key features of an animal model of schizophrenia Author: M. Pollard et al..
John Williams, PhD View the Video Senior Scientist, Vollum Institute Oregon Health & Sciences University G - protein Coupled Receptor dependent synaptic transmission
Unexpectedly, these behavioral changes were accompanied by an increase in inhibitory
synaptic transmission with no apparent effect on excitatory synapses.
The team used genetics like a scalpel blade to remove individual proteins from the synapse to identify their different roles within the synapse, and how they
maintain synaptic transmission.
Presynaptic injection of antibodies specific for VAP - 33
inhibited synaptic transmission, which suggests that VAP - 33 is required for the exocytosis of neurotransmitter.
This regulation is spectacularly apparent in the exquisite speed and precision of synaptic exocytosis, where synaptotagmin (the calcium - ion sensor for fusion) cooperates with complexin (the clamp activator) to control the precisely timed release of neurotransmitters that
initiates synaptic transmission and underlies brain function.
Now, EPFL scientists have observed and
measured synaptic transmission in a live animal for the first time, using a new approach that combines genetics with the physics of light.
However,
studying synaptic transmission in living animals is very difficult, and researchers have to use artificial conditions that don't capture the real - life environment of neurons.
Several of the identified genes were representative of pathways previously described in other tissues exposed to hypoxia, including genes in the stress response, apoptotic, proliferation, and
synaptic transmission pathways.
Endocannabinoids work as retrograde messengers and contribute to short - term and long - term modulation of
synaptic transmission via presynaptic cannabinoid receptors.
He has established gases as a new class of neurotransmitters, beginning with his demonstrating the role of nitric oxide in mediating
glutamate synaptic transmission and neurotoxicity.
We used a transverse hippocampal slice preparation with two extracellular recording electrodes to capture propagation of compound action potentials (CAPs) elicited by a stimulating electrode in the presence of
synaptic transmission blockers (CNQX, APV, and picrotoxin).
«There is growing recognition that the pattern of spontaneous neural activity could affect fetal development in humans,» says Penn. «Some illicit drugs, and even nicotine, can interfere with
necessary synaptic transmission.»
However, there is no consensus about the extent to which
basal synaptic transmission (BST) and synaptic plasticity are affected in these models.
YanGang Sun, Juan Pita - Almenar, Chia - Shan Wu, John J Renger, Victor N. Uebele, Hui - Chen Lu, Michael Beierlein (2013) «Biphasic
cholinergic synaptic transmission controls action potential activity in thalamic reticular nucleus neurons», Journal of Neuroscience 33: 2048 - 59.
Kauwe and others in Haghighi's lab are exploring why such a change in the set point of
synaptic transmission occurs so rapidly, and how dampening neuron activity might be beneficial in treating, or even preventing, neurodegenerative diseases.
Functional studies in rodent models suggest that OPHN1 linked ID is a consequence of
abnormal synaptic transmission and shares common pathophysiological mechanisms with other cognitive disorders.
In addition to Overstreet - Wadiche and Wadiche, co-authors of the paper, «Adult born neurons modify
excitatory synaptic transmission to existing neurons,» published in eLife, are Elena W. Adlaf, Ryan J. Vaden, Anastasia J. Niver, Allison F. Manuel, Vincent C. Onyilo, Matheus T. Araujo, Cristina V. Dieni, Hai T. Vo and Gwendalyn D. King.
«You wouldn't have time in the speed required
for synaptic transmission to make the vesicles, load them up, and put them in the active zone ready to release them.
Using these approaches in combination with genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry, we are studying the molecular mechanisms
underlying synaptic transmission and plasticity in mammalian central nervous system.
Her research seeks to clarify the protein machinery involved in memory formation and consolidation under normal and pathological conditions, focusing
on synaptic transmission and brain plasticity.
The functional circuits involve
fast synaptic transmission and volume transmission via amines and peptides as well as gap junctions — much like our nervous system — but are more amenable to genetic analysis.
We found that an unusually high number of genes affected by these DNA deletions / duplications are associated with the functioning of
synaptic transmission between nerve cells.
Introducing SNAP, a protein that promotes membrane fusion, into cells
enhanced synaptic transmission, and this enhancement was significantly less when generated in synapses that expressed LTP.