Release dependence to a paired stimulus at a synaptic release site with a small variable pool of immediately...

Monte Carlo simulations were performed on a release model based on experimental data from single glutamatergic synapses containing a single release site in the hippocampal CA1 region of the neonatal rat. These simulations explored what can be learned about the release process by examining how the release probability in response to the second stimulus (P(2)) of a paired stimulus to a synapse depends on the release in response to the first stimulus. Comparisons between experimental data from a number of individual synapses and the simulated data support the notion that the immediately releasable vesicle pool is small (approximately one) and shows substantial intertrial variation. The simulations also show that the release dependence of P(2) is not necessarily an indicator of either intertrial variation in Ca(2+) influx, feedback effects of released transmitter, or activation failure of the axon.