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Synaptic physiology

A barrier to diffusion

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 7, page 6 (2006)Cite this article

Stimulation of excitatory neurons triggers the movement of calcium into dendritic spines and the build up of second messengers in the spine head, which, in turn, activates regulatory signalling cascades that underpin alterations in the strength of excitatory synapses. The level of signalling molecules in the spine head is therefore crucial for the induction of synaptic plasticity, and Bloodgood and Sabatini have now shown that the spine neck has a dynamic role as a diffusion barrier in regulating the movement of these molecules into and out of the spine head.

These researchers combined two-photon laser-scanning microscopy with two-photon laser photoactivation to measure regulation of diffusion of the photoactivatable green fluorophore PAGFP, which is similar in size to many proteins that are involved in synaptic modification, across spine necks in individual pyramidal neurons of the rat hippocampus. They showed that there are substantial variations in the time taken for diffusion across the spine neck among different spines, whereas within individual spines there was a high degree of consistency in these values.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Bloodgood, B. L. & Sabatini, B. L. Neuronal activity regulates diffusion across the neck of dendritic spines. Science 310, 866–869 (2005)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Segal, M. Dendritic spines and long-term plasticity. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 6, 277–284 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Alison Rowan
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Rowan, A. A barrier to diffusion. Nat Rev Neurosci 7, 6 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1831

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1831

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