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Are some minis multiquantal?

M Frerking1, S Borges, M Wilson

  • 1Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.

Journal of Neurophysiology
|October 6, 1997
PubMed

Insights

Miniature postsynaptic currents (minis) are likely uniquantal, not multiquantal. This study challenges the synchronized release model, suggesting individual release events shape mini amplitude distributions.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cell Biology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Miniature postsynaptic currents (minis) exhibit significant variance and positive skew in central neurons.
  • The underlying sources of this variance and skew remain largely unresolved.
  • A recent hypothesis proposed spontaneous calcium (Ca2+) influx synchronizes release at multiple sites, generating multiquantal minis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that spontaneous Ca2+ influx causes multiquantal minis.
  • To investigate the quantal nature of miniature postsynaptic currents.
  • To determine the sources of variance and skew in mini amplitude distributions.

Main Methods:

  • Evoked minis using internally perfused, buffered Ca2+ and alpha-latrotoxin.
  • Conducted experiments in the absence of external Ca2+.
  • Analyzed mini amplitude distributions under manipulated conditions.

Main Results:

  • Mini amplitude distributions retained large variance and positive skew.
  • Distributions were indistinguishable from depolarization-evoked minis.
  • The synchronized release model's predictions were contradicted.

Conclusions:

  • Miniature postsynaptic currents are likely uniquantal.
  • Spontaneous Ca2+ influx does not appear to synchronize release to create multiquantal events.
  • The findings challenge existing models of spontaneous neurotransmitter release.

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