Release probability increases towards distal dendrites boosting high-frequency signal transfer in the rodent hippocampus
Abstract
Dendritic integration of synaptic inputs involves their increased electrotonic attenuation at distal dendrites, which can be counterbalanced by the increased synaptic receptor density. However, during network activity the influence of individual synapses depends on their release fidelity, the dendritic distribution of which remains poorly understood. Here, we employed classical optical quantal analyses and a genetically encoded optical glutamate sensor in acute hippocampal slices of rats and mice to monitor release at CA3-CA1 synapses. We find that their release probability increases with greater distances from the soma. Similar-fidelity synapses tend to group together whereas release probability shows no trends regarding the branch ends. Simulations with a realistic CA1 pyramidal cell hosting stochastic synapses suggest that the observed trends boost signal transfer fidelity, particularly at higher input frequencies. Because high-frequency bursting has been associated with learning, the release probability pattern we have found may play a key role in memory trace formation.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Figures 1 - 4.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Wellcome Trust (212251_Z_18_Z)
- Dmitri A Rusakov
European Research Council (323113)
- Dmitri A Rusakov
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: Animal procedures were subject to local ethical approval and adhered to the European Commission Directive (86/609/ EEC) and the United Kingdom Home Office (Scientific Procedures) Act of 1986. Experiments were carried out under the UK HO Project licence PPL707524.
Copyright
© 2021, Jensen et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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