Increased number of synaptic GABAA receptors underlies potentiation at hippocampal inhibitory synapses

Zoltan Nusser, Norbert Hájos, Peter Somogyi and Istvan Mody ()
Additional contact information
Zoltan Nusser: Medical Research Council, Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, University of Oxford
Norbert Hájos: UCLA School of Medicine
Peter Somogyi: Medical Research Council, Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, University of Oxford
Istvan Mody: UCLA School of Medicine

Nature, 1998, vol. 395, issue 6698, 172-177

Abstract: Abstract Changes in synaptic efficacy are essential for neuronal development1, learning and memory formation2 and for pathological states of neuronal excitability, including temporal-lobe epilepsy3. At synapses, where there is a high probability of opening of postsynaptic receptors4, all of which are occupied by the released transmitter5,6,7,8,9, the most effective means of augmenting postsynaptic responses is to increase the number of receptors2,10,11. Here we combine quantal analysis of evoked inhibitory postsynaptic currents with quantitative immunogold localization of synaptic GABAA receptors in hippocampal granule cells in order to clarify the basis of inhibitory synaptic plasticity induced by an experimental model of temporal-lobe epilepsy (a process known as kindling)10. We find that the larger amplitude (66% increase) of elementary synaptic currents (quantal size) after kindling results directly from a 75% increase in the number of GABAA receptors at inhibitory synapses on somata and axon initial segments. Receptor density was up by 34–40% and the synaptic junctional area was expanded by 31%. Presynaptic boutons were enlarged, which may account for the 39% decrease in the average number of released transmitter packets (quantal content). Our findings establish the postsynaptic insertion of new GABAA receptors and the corresponding increase in postsynaptic responses augmenting the efficacy of mammalian inhibitory synapses.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/25999 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6698:d:10.1038_25999

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/25999

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().