Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Precise alignment of pre- and postsynaptic elements optimizes the activation of glutamate receptors at excitatory synapses. Nonetheless, glutamate that diffuses out of the synaptic cleft can have actions at distant receptors, a mode of transmission called spillover. To uncover the extrasynaptic actions of glutamate, we localized AMPA receptors (AMPARs) mediating spillover transmission between climbing fibers and molecular layer interneurons in the cerebellar cortex. We found that climbing fiber spillover generates calcium transients mediated by Ca 2+ -permeable AMPARs at parallel fiber synapses. Spillover occludes parallel fiber synaptic currents, indicating that separate, independently regulated afferent pathways converge onto a common pool of AMPARs. Together these findings demonstrate a circuit motif wherein glutamate ‘spill-in’ from an unconnected afferent pathway co-opts synaptic receptors, allowing activation of postsynaptic AMPARs even when canonical glutamate release is suppressed.
Source: Nature Communications
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,290
Awards: Cocaine Modulation of Synapses onto Dopamine Neurons, AMPAR Function in Synaptic and Extrasynaptic Membranes, Inhibitory Neural Circuits in Dentate Function, G5714229462, ELEVATED LEVELS OF GLUTAMATE AT CEREBELLAR SYNAPSES, G7314405463, Subcellular Localization of Glutamate Spillover on to Inhibitory Interneurons in the Cerebellar Cortex, G8772590402
OpenAlex ID: W4378783246