Synaptic transmission in neurological disorders dissected by a quantitative approach

Synaptic transmission depends on several molecular and geometric components, such as the location of vesicular release, the number of released neurotransmitter molecules, the number and type of receptors, as well as the synapse organization. Our goal here is to illustrate how synaptic modeling allows extracting quantitative information in the context of neurological diseases and associated therapies. Combining electrophysiology with simulation tools, we first evaluate the reduction in synaptically released glutamate molecules induced by a ketogenic diet. In a second part, because the scaffolding molecule Shank3 is disrupted at the postsynaptic density in Autism Spectral Disorders, we present a numerical simulation of the synaptic response where this disruption leads to an alteration of the excitatory AMPA receptor trafficking. The take home message is that combining recent experimental findings with modeling approaches allows obtaining precise quantitative properties of what was still unapproachable a decade ago.