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Updated: May 11, 2026

Induction of an Isoelectric Brain State to Investigate the Impact of Endogenous Synaptic Activity on Neuronal Excitability In Vivo
Published on: March 31, 2016
The cell-autonomous role of excitatory synaptic transmission in the regulation of neuronal structure and function
Wei Lu1, Eric A Bushong, Tiffany P Shih
1Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Abstract:
The cell-autonomous role of synaptic transmission in the regulation of neuronal structural and electrical properties is unclear. We have now employed a genetic approach to eliminate glutamatergic synaptic transmission onto individual CA1 pyramidal neurons in a mosaic fashion in vivo. Surprisingly, while electrical properties are profoundly affected in these neurons, as well as inhibitory synaptic transmission, we found little perturbation of neuronal morphology, demonstrating a functional segregation of excitatory synaptic transmission from neuronal morphological development.
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