N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are critical for establishing, maintaining, and modifying glutamatergic synapses in an activity-dependent manner. The subunit composition, synaptic expression, and some of the properties of NMDARs are regulated by synaptic activity, affecting processes like synaptic plasticity. NMDAR transmission is dynamic, and we were interested in studying the effect o...

Identifying the molecules that regulate both the recycling of synaptic vesicles and the SNARE components required for fusion is critical for elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity. SNAP-29 was initially isolated as a syntaxin-binding and ubiquitously expressed protein. Previous studies have suggested that SNAP-29 inhibits SNARE complex disassembly, thereby reducing ...

Endocannabinoids are well established as inhibitors of chemical synaptic transmission via presynaptic activation of the cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R). Contrasting this notion, we show that dendritic release of endocannabinoids mediates potentiation of synaptic transmission at mixed (electrical and chemical) synaptic contacts on the goldfish Mauthner cell. Remarkably, the observed enhanceme...

Accumulating evidence indicates that bioactive substances produced by glia play an important role in the modulation of synaptic transmission. Astrocytes and microglia express many types of P2 purinoceptors and the stimulation of these receptors causes the release of bioactive substances, termed “gliotransmitters”, such as ATP, glutamate and cytokines. Gliotransmitters are able to modulate synap...

The properties of the synchronously activated radiatum fiber-CA1 synaptic population were examined with the in vitro hippocampal slice preparation. Periodic fluctuations in synaptic transmission and in the enhancement of synaptic transmission were observed with periods ranging from 8 to 20 s. Such periodic fluctuations did not arise from fluctuations in afferent radiatum fiber activity. The per...

The synaptic vesicle population in a nerve terminal is traditionally divided into subpopulations according to physiological criteria; the readily releasable pool (RRP), the recycling pool, and the reserve pool. It is recognized that the RRP subserves synaptic transmission evoked by low-frequency neural activity and that the recycling and reserve populations are called on to supply vesicles as n...

24 The synaptic vesicle population in a nerve terminal is traditionally divided into 25 subpopulations according to physiological criteria; the readily releasable pool (RRP), the 26 recycling pool and the reserve pool. It is recognized that the RRP subserves synaptic 27 transmission evoked by low frequency neural activity and that the recycling and reserve 28 populations are called upon to supp...

Large calyceal synapses are often regarded as simple relay points, built for high-fidelity and high-frequency synaptic transmission and a minimal requirement for synaptic plasticity, but this view is oversimplified. Calyceal synapses can exhibit surprising activity-dependent developmental plasticity. Here we compare basal synaptic transmission and activity-dependent plasticity at two stereotypi...

Two distinct mechanisms mediate potentiating effects of depolarization on synaptic transmission. Recently there has been renewed interest in a type of plasticity in which a neuron's somatic membrane potential influences synaptic transmission. We study mechanisms that mediate this type of control at a synapse between a mechanoafferent, B21, and B8, a motor neuron that receives chemical synaptic ...