Partitioning the synaptic landscape: distinct microdomains for spontaneous and 
spike-triggered neurotransmission

Sutton, M. A.; Schuman, Erin M.

doi:10.1126/scisignal.265pe19

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Review Article

Partitioning the synaptic landscape: distinct microdomains for spontaneous and spike-triggered neurotransmission

MPS-Authors

/persons/resource/persons208206

Schuman, Erin M.
Synaptic Plasticity Department, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19351951
(Any fulltext)

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

There are no public fulltexts stored in PuRe

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Sutton, M. A., & Schuman, E. M. (2009). Partitioning the synaptic landscape: distinct microdomains for spontaneous and spike-triggered neurotransmission. Sci Sign, 2(65), pe19.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0007-EF2E-A

Abstract

For over 50 years, it has been recognized that two distinct modes of neurotransmission are operative at synapses: the release of neurotransmitter triggered by the invasion of action potentials into presynaptic terminals and spontaneous neurotransmitter release that occurs independently of action potentials. In the past, spontaneous neurotransmitter release has been dismissed as mere synaptic noise, but recent studies have suggested that spontaneous release has important functional roles at synapses. New evidence indicates that spontaneous release and action potential-evoked release preferentially activate distinct subsets of postsynaptic receptors, suggesting that synapses use physically segregated pathways to decode spontaneous and evoked neurotransmission.