Abstract
Cortical GABAergic synapses exhibit a high degree of molecular, anatomical and functional heterogeneity of their neurons of origins, presynaptic mechanisms, receptors, and scaffolding proteins. GABA transporters (GATs) have an important role in regulating GABA levels; among them, GAT-1 and GAT-3 play a prominent role in modulating tonic and phasic GABAAR-mediated inhibition. We asked whether GAT-1 and GAT-3 contribute to generating heterogeneity by studying their ultrastructural localization at cortical symmetric synapses using pre-and post-embedding electron microcopy. GAT-1 and GAT-3 staining at symmetric synapses showed that in some cases the transporters were localized exclusively over axon terminals; in others they were in both axon terminals and perisynaptic astrocytic processes; and in some others GAT-1 and GAT-3 were in perisynaptic astrocytic processes only. Moreover, we showed that the organizational pattern of GAT-1, but not of GAT-3, exhibits a certain degree of specificity related to the post-synaptic target of GABAergic synapses. These findings show that symmetric synapses expressing GAT-1 or GAT-3 are heterogeneous, and indicate that plasma membrane transporters can contribute to synaptic heterogeneity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 72 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Neuroanatomy |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | JULY |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 25 2014 |
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Keywords
- GABA
- GABA transporters
- GAT-1
- GAT-3
- Heterogeneity
- Symmetric synapses
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Anatomy
- Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Cite this
Plasma membrane transporters GAT-1 and GAT-3 contribute to heterogeneity of GABAergic synapses in neocortex. / Melone, Marcello; Ciappelloni, Silvia; Conti, Fiorenzo.
In: Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, Vol. 8, No. JULY, 72, 25.07.2014.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Plasma membrane transporters GAT-1 and GAT-3 contribute to heterogeneity of GABAergic synapses in neocortex
AU - Melone, Marcello
AU - Ciappelloni, Silvia
AU - Conti, Fiorenzo
PY - 2014/7/25
Y1 - 2014/7/25
N2 - Cortical GABAergic synapses exhibit a high degree of molecular, anatomical and functional heterogeneity of their neurons of origins, presynaptic mechanisms, receptors, and scaffolding proteins. GABA transporters (GATs) have an important role in regulating GABA levels; among them, GAT-1 and GAT-3 play a prominent role in modulating tonic and phasic GABAAR-mediated inhibition. We asked whether GAT-1 and GAT-3 contribute to generating heterogeneity by studying their ultrastructural localization at cortical symmetric synapses using pre-and post-embedding electron microcopy. GAT-1 and GAT-3 staining at symmetric synapses showed that in some cases the transporters were localized exclusively over axon terminals; in others they were in both axon terminals and perisynaptic astrocytic processes; and in some others GAT-1 and GAT-3 were in perisynaptic astrocytic processes only. Moreover, we showed that the organizational pattern of GAT-1, but not of GAT-3, exhibits a certain degree of specificity related to the post-synaptic target of GABAergic synapses. These findings show that symmetric synapses expressing GAT-1 or GAT-3 are heterogeneous, and indicate that plasma membrane transporters can contribute to synaptic heterogeneity.
AB - Cortical GABAergic synapses exhibit a high degree of molecular, anatomical and functional heterogeneity of their neurons of origins, presynaptic mechanisms, receptors, and scaffolding proteins. GABA transporters (GATs) have an important role in regulating GABA levels; among them, GAT-1 and GAT-3 play a prominent role in modulating tonic and phasic GABAAR-mediated inhibition. We asked whether GAT-1 and GAT-3 contribute to generating heterogeneity by studying their ultrastructural localization at cortical symmetric synapses using pre-and post-embedding electron microcopy. GAT-1 and GAT-3 staining at symmetric synapses showed that in some cases the transporters were localized exclusively over axon terminals; in others they were in both axon terminals and perisynaptic astrocytic processes; and in some others GAT-1 and GAT-3 were in perisynaptic astrocytic processes only. Moreover, we showed that the organizational pattern of GAT-1, but not of GAT-3, exhibits a certain degree of specificity related to the post-synaptic target of GABAergic synapses. These findings show that symmetric synapses expressing GAT-1 or GAT-3 are heterogeneous, and indicate that plasma membrane transporters can contribute to synaptic heterogeneity.
KW - GABA
KW - GABA transporters
KW - GAT-1
KW - GAT-3
KW - Heterogeneity
KW - Symmetric synapses
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905052673&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84905052673&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fnana.2014.00072
DO - 10.3389/fnana.2014.00072
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84905052673
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
JF - Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
SN - 1662-5129
IS - JULY
M1 - 72
ER -