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. 2016 Aug 18;5:e18167. doi: 10.7554/eLife.18167

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© 2016, Molnár et al

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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Figure 3. — (A, H) Electron microscopic images of 20 nm thick sections show axon terminals forming asymmetrical synapses on a human (A) and a rat (H) FS cell dendrite (intracellularly filled interneuron visualized with peroxidase: dark precipitate). (B, I) Higher magnification views of the boxed areas in A and H, showing docked vesicles (*) at the AZs. (C, J) 3D reconstructions of the terminals shown in B and I. The human terminal (c, grey semitransparent contour) contains an AZ (blue) of 0.09 μm² with 4 docked vesicles (white spheres), whereas the rat AZ (red in J) is 0.04 μm² and has 2 docked vesicles. (D, K–L) Electron tomographic subvolumes (0.6 nm thick) of human (D) and rat (K–L) axon terminals (t) that establish asymmetrical synaptic contacts on FS cell dendrites (dark precipitate). (E–G, M–O) Boxed areas from D and K-L show docked vesicles (*). Panels G and O show membrane proximal vesicles with distances smaller than 5 nm (distance between arrowheads). (P) The area of AZs, determined from 3D reconstructions from 20 nm serial sections, is twice as large in humans than in rats (0.077 ± 0.051 μm², n = 22, from 3 separate human samples; rat: 0.041 ± 0.017 μm², n = 19 from 3 animals; p = 0.002, MW U-test). (Q) The number of the docked vesicles, identified in fully reconstructed AZs from 20 nm serial sections, is 4-times larger in human compared to rats (human: 4.2 ± 2.2, n = 21; rat: 1.3 ± 0.8, n = 18, p<0.001, MW U-test). (R) The density of docked vesicles, measured either in 20 nm reconstructions (human: 58.5 ± 24.6 / μm², n = 21, rat: 32.5 ± 19.9 / μm², n = 18, p < 0.001, unpaired t-test) or in EM tomographic volumes (human: 49.5 ± 23.8 / μm², n = 33, rat: 24.3 ± 16.0 / μm², n = 31, P < 0.001, MW U-test), is significantly different between the two species. (S) The number of the docked vesicles shows a positive correlation with the AZ area (Spearman correlation). Scale bars: A, D, H, K, L: 200 nm, B, E-G, I, M-O: 100 nm, C, J: side of the cubes: 200 nm. Data presented as mean ± SD.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18167.005

Figure 3—figure supplement 1. — (A, H) Electron microscopic images of 20 nm thick sections show axon terminals forming asymmetrical synapses on a human (A) and a rat (H) FS cell dendrite (intracellularly filled interneuron visualized with peroxidase: dark precipitate). (B, I) Higher magnification views of the boxed areas in A and H, showing docked vesicles (*) at the AZs. (C, J) 3D reconstructions of the terminals shown in B and I. The human terminal (c, grey semitransparent contour) contains an AZ (blue) of 0.09 μm² with 4 docked vesicles (white spheres), whereas the rat AZ (red in J) is 0.04 μm² and has 2 docked vesicles. (D, K–L) Electron tomographic subvolumes (0.6 nm thick) of human (D) and rat (K–L) axon terminals (t) that establish asymmetrical synaptic contacts on FS cell dendrites (dark precipitate). (E–G, M–O) Boxed areas from D and K-L show docked vesicles (*). Panels G and O show membrane proximal vesicles with distances smaller than 5 nm (distance between arrowheads). (P) The area of AZs, determined from 3D reconstructions from 20 nm serial sections, is twice as large in humans than in rats (0.077 ± 0.051 μm², n = 22, from 3 separate human samples; rat: 0.041 ± 0.017 μm², n = 19 from 3 animals; p = 0.002, MW U-test). (Q) The number of the docked vesicles, identified in fully reconstructed AZs from 20 nm serial sections, is 4-times larger in human compared to rats (human: 4.2 ± 2.2, n = 21; rat: 1.3 ± 0.8, n = 18, p<0.001, MW U-test). (R) The density of docked vesicles, measured either in 20 nm reconstructions (human: 58.5 ± 24.6 / μm², n = 21, rat: 32.5 ± 19.9 / μm², n = 18, p < 0.001, unpaired t-test) or in EM tomographic volumes (human: 49.5 ± 23.8 / μm², n = 33, rat: 24.3 ± 16.0 / μm², n = 31, P < 0.001, MW U-test), is significantly different between the two species. (S) The number of the docked vesicles shows a positive correlation with the AZ area (Spearman correlation). Scale bars: A, D, H, K, L: 200 nm, B, E-G, I, M-O: 100 nm, C, J: side of the cubes: 200 nm. Data presented as mean ± SD.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18167.005