Studying Signal Transduction in Single Dendritic Spines

  1. Ryohei Yasuda
  1. Neurobiology Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710
  1. Correspondence: yasuda{at}neuro.duke.edu

Abstract

Many forms of synaptic plasticity are triggered by biochemical signaling that occurs in small postsynaptic compartments called dendritic spines, each of which typically houses the postsynaptic terminal associated with a single glutamatergic synapse. Recent advances in optical techniques allow investigators to monitor biochemical signaling in single dendritic spines and thus reveal the signaling mechanisms that link synaptic activity and the induction of synaptic plasticity. This is mostly in the study of Ca2+-dependent forms of synaptic plasticity for which many of the steps between Ca2+ influx and changes to the synapse are now known. This article introduces the new techniques used to investigate signaling in single dendritic spines and the neurobiological insights that they have produced.



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      1. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol. 4: a005611 Copyright © 2012 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved

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