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Cells
Special Issues
Diving Deep into Synaptic Transmission
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Diving Deep into Synaptic Transmission

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cells of the Nervous System".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 1313

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Manfred Heckmann

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neurophysiology, Institute for Physiology, University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
Interests: presynaptic active zones; receptor channels; electrophysiology; super-resolution imaging; high-pressure freezing
Dr. Mila Marie Paul

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Neurophysiology, Institute for Physiology, University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
2. Department of Orthopedic Trauma, Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital of Würz-burg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
Interests: active zone; neurotransmission; synaptic plasticity; localization microscopy; traumatic brain injury

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Chemical synaptic transmission is currently probed using electrophysiology, pharmacology, (cryogenic) electron and super-resolution light microscopy, and a spectrum of genetically encoded sensors and effectors. Model organisms such as worms, flies and mice are utilized; however, neurons derived from human stem cells have also been increasingly used. Synaptic structure, function and the mechanisms of synaptic differentiation and plasticity during development or aging are central topics. Furthermore, distinct activity states of synapses can be imaged with temporal resolution of milliseconds and at spatial resolution of nanometers. In addition, investigations of disease mechanisms have gained momentum. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of the most recent advancements in this field by bringing together researchers and publishing their latest studies and discoveries.

Prof. Dr. Manfred Heckmann
Dr. Mila Marie Paul
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • presynaptic active zone
  • release site
  • synaptic cleft
  • postsynaptic density
  • super-resolution imaging

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 2645 KiB  
Article
Versatile Endogenous Editing of GluRIIA in Drosophila melanogaster
by Constantin J. Beckers, Achmed Mrestani, Fabian Komma and Sven Dannhäuser
Cells 2024, 13(4), 323; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells13040323 - 10 Feb 2024
Viewed by 861
Abstract
Glutamate receptors at the postsynaptic side translate neurotransmitter release from presynapses into postsynaptic excitation. They play a role in many forms of synaptic plasticity, e.g., homeostatic scaling of the receptor field, activity-dependent synaptic plasticity and the induction of presynaptic homeostatic potentiation (PHP). The [...] Read more.
Glutamate receptors at the postsynaptic side translate neurotransmitter release from presynapses into postsynaptic excitation. They play a role in many forms of synaptic plasticity, e.g., homeostatic scaling of the receptor field, activity-dependent synaptic plasticity and the induction of presynaptic homeostatic potentiation (PHP). The latter process has been extensively studied at Drosophila melanogaster neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). The genetic removal of the glutamate receptor subunit IIA (GluRIIA) leads to an induction of PHP at the synapse. So far, mostly imprecise knockouts of the GluRIIA gene have been utilized. Furthermore, mutated and tagged versions of GluRIIA have been examined in the past, but most of these constructs were not expressed under endogenous regulatory control or involved the mentioned imprecise GluRIIA knockouts. We performed CRISPR/Cas9-assisted gene editing at the endogenous locus of GluRIIA. This enabled the investigation of the endogenous expression pattern of GluRIIA using tagged constructs with an EGFP and an ALFA tag for super-resolution immunofluorescence imaging, including structured illumination microscopy (SIM) and direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM). All GluRIIA constructs exhibited full functionality and PHP could be induced by philanthotoxin at control levels. By applying hierarchical clustering algorithms to analyze the dSTORM data, we detected postsynaptic receptor cluster areas of ~0.15 µm2. Consequently, our constructs are suitable for ultrastructural analyses of GluRIIA. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diving Deep into Synaptic Transmission)
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