Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2026

Imaging Dendritic Spines in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: September 27, 2021
Lateral organization of endocytic machinery in dendritic spines
Bence Rácz1, Thomas A Blanpied, Michael D Ehlers
1Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Abstract:
Postsynaptic membrane trafficking plays an important role in synaptic plasticity, but the organization of trafficking machinery within dendritic spines is poorly understood. We use immunocytochemical analysis of rat hippocampal neurons to show that proteins mediating endocytosis are systematically arrayed within dendritic spines, tangential to the synapse. Thus, previously unrecognized lateral domains of the spine organize endocytic protein machinery at sites removed from the postsynaptic density.
Related Concept Videos
Assembly of Complex Microtubule Structures
Maturation of Endosomes
Changes in location
The maturing endosome moves along microtubules from the periphery of the cell towards the perinuclear region. This movement of the...
Clathrin Coated Vesicles
Golgi Apparatus
Golgi Apparatus
The Golgi apparatus is a eukaryotic organelle that has a distinctive ribbon-like appearance. It is a primary sorting and dispatch station for cargo arriving from the ER. Newly arriving vesicles enter the cis face of the Golgi, closest to the ER, and are...
Vesicular Tubular Clusters
With the help of motor proteins such...
