Inhibitory synaptic transmission between leech heart interneurons consist of two components: graded, gated by Ca2+ entering by low-threshold [low-voltage-activated (LVA)] Ca channels and spike-mediated, gated by Ca2+ entering by high-threshold [high-voltage-activated (HVA)] Ca channels. Changes in presynaptic background Ca2+ produced by Ca2+ influx through LVA channels modulate spike-mediated t...

Volado, the gene encoding the Drosophila alphaPS3-integrin, is required for normal short-term memory formation (Grotewiel et al., 1998), supporting a role for integrins in synaptic modulation mechanisms. We show that the Volado protein (VOL) is localized to central and peripheral larval Drosophila synapses. VOL is strongly concentrated in a subpopulation of synaptic boutons in the CNS neuropil ...

People with schizophrenia (SZ) experience abnormal visual perception on a range of visual tasks, which have been linked to abnormal synaptic transmission and an imbalance between cortical excitation and inhibition. However, differences in the underlying architecture of visual cortex neurons, which might explain these visual anomalies, have yet to be reported in vivo Here, we probed the neural b...