Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

A High-content Assay for Monitoring AMPA Receptor Trafficking
Published on: January 28, 2019
Altered surface trafficking of presynaptic cannabinoid type 1 receptor in and out synaptic terminals parallels
Lenka Mikasova1, Laurent Groc, Daniel Choquet
1Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U862 Laboratory Physiopathology of Synaptic Plasticity, Neurocentre Magendie, 146 rue Leo Saignat, 33077 Bordeaux, France.
Abstract:
Presynaptic cannabinoid type 1 receptors (CB1Rs) are major mediators of retrograde synaptic plasticity at both excitatory and inhibitory synapses and participate in a plethora of physiological functions. Whether presynaptic receptors, such as CB1R, display functionally relevant movements at the surface of neuronal membranes is not known. We analyzed the lateral mobility of native CB1Rs in cortical neurons by using single-quantum dot imaging. We found that CB1Rs are highly mobile and rapidly diffuse in and out of presynapses. Agonist-induced desensitization correlated with a reduction in the fraction of surface CB1Rs and a drastic decrease in the membrane dynamic of the CB1Rs that remained at the presynaptic surface. Desensitization specifically excluded CB1Rs from synapses and increased the fraction of immobile receptors in the extrasynaptic compartment. The results suggest that decrease of mobility may be one of the core mechanisms underlying the desensitization of CB1R, the most abundant G protein-coupled receptor in the brain.
Related Concept Videos
GPCR Desensitization
Desensitization and Tachyphylaxis
Several...
Neurochemical Transmission: Sites of Drug Action
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism
Chemical Synapses
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...
Chemical Synapses
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...

