HOW SYNAPTIC CURRENTS BECOME FASTER

 

 

It is known that synaptic currents become faster with age, but mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. A new study uses electron microscopy, physiology and modelling to show that the progressive speeding of AMPA receptor-mediated synaptic currents, during development, results from changes in the structure of the synapses rather than the composition of post-synaptic receptors (Dwight E. Bergles, Shape-shifting at a cerebellar synapse allows submillisecond signaling. Nature Neuroscience 8, 1279-1281, 2005).

 

BM&L-October 2005

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