Balanced GABAergic and glutamatergic synapse development in hippocampal neurons

Coordinated development of excitatory and inhibitory synapses is crucial for normal function of neuronal circuits. Using homo- and heterochronic cultures of hippocampal neurons, we compared the formation of glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses at different stages and asked whether the age of dendrites affects their ability to accept new glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses. Neurons were transfected with either CFP-actin as a dendritic marker or GFP-synaptophysin as a presynaptic marker. We found that GFP-synaptophysin clusters formed on CFP-actin-labeled dendrites at similar density regardless of pre- and postsynaptic cell type or the age of dendrites (0-2 weeks) upon co-culturing. Therefore, the age of mature dendrites does not affect their ability to accept new synapses. Because GABAergic transmission switches from depolarizing to hyperpolarizing during 1-2 weeks in these cultures, our observations also suggest that this developmental switch does not alter the formation of GABAergic synapses.