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Synaptic transmission is the biological process by which a neuron communicates with a target cell across a synapse. Chemical synaptic transmission involves the release of a neurotransmitter from the pre-synaptic neuron, and neurotransmitter binding to specific post-synaptic receptors. Electrical synapse transmission involves the transfer of electrical signals through gap junctions.
Cerebellar nuclei (CN) neurons receive synapses from Purkinje cells, yet how these are spatially organized has been unknown. Here, authors show inputs are clustered along transverse zones with many CN cells receiving multi-zonal input, suggesting multimodal integration occurs in the CN.
Dopamine regulates multiple brain functions through coexisting tonic and phasic release modalities. Here, the authors describe an approach for monitoring tonic and phasic dopamine release simultaneously via on-demand chemogenetic tuning of a dopamine sensor.
PdCO is a switchable optogenetic tool for inhibiting synaptic transmission in neuronal terminals in vivo, as demonstrated in a variety of contexts mainly in the mouse.
RoboEM, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based flight agent, automatically steers through three-dimensional electron microscopy (3D-EM) images of brain tissue to follow neurites. RoboEM substantially improves state-of-the-art automated reconstructions, eliminating manual proofreading needs in complex connectomic analysis problems and paving the way for high-throughput, cost-effective, large-scale mapping of neuronal networks — connectomes.
Following synaptic vesicle exocytosis, synaptotagmin 1 recruits a lipid signalling pathway within the presynaptic plasma membrane that drives local dynamin recruitment and membrane retrieval by endocytosis, thus maintaining membrane homeostasis.
A co-released inhibitory neurotransmitter and stimulatory neuropeptide are shown to act on different timescales to enhance circuit output and optimize behaviour.
We developed, characterized and validated nLight sensors, a new family of genetically encoded green and red fluorescent norepinephrine indicators based on an alpha-1 adrenergic receptor. nLight probes can detect norepinephrine in living animals with superior sensitivity, ligand specificity and temporal resolution as compared with previous tools.