[Serotoninergic synapses on the ventral dendrite of the mauthner neuron (ultrastructural study with immunogold...

Using immunogold labeling, excitatory serotoninergic synapses of both chemical and mixed types, were found on the ventral dendrite (VD) of goldfish Mauthner neuron (MN).They are characterized by the presence of several mitochondria in the bouton and by an obligatory desmosome-like contact (DLC) besides the active zone (AZ). Their AZs were commonly found to make contact with the unlabeled chemical crested synapses, which, in turn, directly interacted with VD. These synapses were practically devoid of mitochondria and had no DLCs, thus allowing to identify them as the inhibitory ones. This "two-level" organization of excitatory serotoninergic and inhibitory synapses appears to be related to the reciprocal mechanism of the regulation of MN functional activity by visual input.