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Volume 6 Issue 5, May 2003

Volume 6 Issue 5

Experience-dependent changes in postsynaptic structure are well known, but Pico Caroni and colleagues now show that mature presynaptic terminals are dynamic structures as well. Using targeted GFP expression, they examined mossy fiber presynaptic terminals in mouse hippocampal slices. Terminals appeared and disappeared within 1-3 days and showed distinct properties based on terminal type. High-frequency stimulation increased the fraction of dynamic terminals via AMPA receptors, PKA and protein synthesis. See page 491.

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