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Updated: May 3, 2026

Presynaptically Silent Synapses Studied with Light Microscopy
Published on: January 4, 2010
Membrane lipids tune synaptic transmission by direct modulation of presynaptic potassium channels
Mario Carta1, Frederic Lanore1, Nelson Rebola1
1University of Bordeaux, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, CNRS UMR 5297, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
Abstract:
Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels are involved in action potential (AP) repolarization in excitable cells. Exogenous application of membrane-derived lipids, such as arachidonic acid (AA), regulates the gating of Kv channels. Whether membrane-derived lipids released under physiological conditions have an impact on neuronal coding through this mechanism is unknown. We show that AA released in an activity-dependent manner from postsynaptic hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells acts as retrograde messenger, inducing a robust facilitation of mossy fiber (Mf) synaptic transmission over several minutes. AA acts by broadening presynaptic APs through the direct modulation of Kv channels. This form of short-term plasticity can be triggered when postsynaptic cell fires with physiologically relevant patterns and sets the threshold for the induction of the presynaptic form of long-term potentiation (LTP) at hippocampal Mf synapses. Hence, direct modulation of presynaptic Kv channels by activity-dependent release of lipids serves as a physiological mechanism for tuning synaptic transmission.
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