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Published on: March 2, 2011
A Distance-Dependent Distribution of Presynaptic Boutons Tunes Frequency-Dependent Dendritic Integration
Federico W Grillo1, Guilherme Neves1, Alison Walker2
1Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, UK; MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, UK.
None:
How presynaptic inputs and neurotransmitter release dynamics are distributed along a dendritic tree is not well established. Here, we show that presynaptic boutons that form onto basal dendrites of CA1 pyramidal neurons display a decrease in active zone (AZ) size with distance from the soma, resulting in a distance-dependent increase in short-term facilitation. Our findings suggest that the spatial distribution of short-term facilitation serves to compensate for the electrotonic attenuation of subthreshold distal inputs during repeated stimulation and fine-tunes the preferred input frequency of dendritic domains.
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