Nature Neuroscience
4, 1086 - 1092 (2001)
Published online: 22 October 2001; | doi:10.1038/nn736
Dendritic spine geometry is critical for AMPA receptor expression in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neuronsMasanori Matsuzaki1, 2, 3, Graham C. R. Ellis-Davies4, Tomomi Nemoto1, 2, 3, Yasushi Miyashita3, Masamitsu Iino2, 3
& Haruo Kasai1, 21
Department of Cell Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
2
CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
3
University of Tokyo School of Medicine, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
4
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, MCP Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Haruo Kasai hkasai@nips.ac.jpDendritic spines serve as preferential sites of excitatory synaptic connections and are pleomorphic. To address the structure−function relationship of the dendritic spines, we used two-photon uncaging of glutamate to allow mapping of functional glutamate receptors at the level of the single synapse. Our analyses of the spines of CA1 pyramidal neurons reveal that AMPA ( -amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid)-type glutamate receptors are abundant (up to 150/spine) in mushroom spines but sparsely distributed in thin spines and filopodia. The latter may be serving as the structural substrates of the silent synapses that have been proposed to play roles in development and plasticity of synaptic transmission. Our data indicate that distribution of functional AMPA receptors is tightly correlated with spine geometry and that receptor activity is independently regulated at the level of single spines.
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