Surface Mobility of Postsynaptic AMPARs Tunes Synaptic Transmission

[Surface mobility of postsynaptic AMPARs tunes synaptic transmission].

AMPA glutamate receptors (AMPARs) mediate fast excitatory synaptic transmission. Upon fast consecutive synaptic stimulation, transmission can be depressed. Recuperation from fast synaptic depression has been attributed solely to recovery of transmitter release and/or AMPAR desensitization. We show that AMPAR lateral diffusion, observed in both intact hippocampi and cultured neurons, allows fast...

Retaining Synaptic AMPARs

Endocytosis, exocytosis, and lateral diffusion are key mechanisms for AMPA receptor trafficking. Endocytosis of AMPARs and other postsynaptic proteins has been proposed to occur at specific endocytic zones (EZs), but the mechanisms that regulate this process are not at all clear. In this issue of Neuron, Lu et al. show that correct synaptic EZ positioning requires links between the GTPase dynam...

An Engineered Metal Sensor Tunes the Kinetics of Synaptic Transmission.

UNLABELLED The Ca(2+) sensor synaptotagmin-1 (syt-1) regulates neurotransmitter release by interacting with anionic phospholipids. Here we test the idea that the intrinsic kinetics of syt-membrane interactions determine, in part, the time course of synaptic transmission. To tune the kinetics of this interaction, we grafted structural elements from the slowest isoform, syt-7, onto the fastest is...

From Basolateral Amygdala in a Postsynaptic Neuron/Synaptic Bouton Preparation Ethanol Potentiates GABAergic Synaptic Transmission

Ethanol potentiates GABAergic synaptic transmission in a postsynaptic neuron/synaptic bouton preparation from basolateral amygdala.

Interactions between ethanol and synaptic transmission mediated by gamma -amino-N-butyric acid (GABA) have been suggested to contribute to alcohol intoxication. Ethanol effects on postsynaptic GABAA receptors have been the major focus of this line of research. There is increasing evidence that ethanol potentiation of GABAergic transmission involves increased GABA release from presynaptic termin...