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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1990 Jul;87(14):5359–5362. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.14.5359

Origin of variability in quantal size in cultured hippocampal neurons and hippocampal slices.

J M Bekkers 1, G B Richerson 1, C F Stevens 1
PMCID: PMC54323  PMID: 2371276

Abstract

The size of synaptic quanta has been found to display considerable variation in cultured hippocampal neurons, but the source of this variability was previously unknown. We have now compared the properties of locally evoked miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents in cultured hippocampal neurons and in thin hippocampal slices using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings. The variability in miniature excitatory postsynaptic current size was similar in both preparations and occurred in cultured neurons when only one or a few synaptic boutons were stimulated. Thus, the variability in miniature excitatory postsynaptic current amplitude is not an artifact of cultured neurons and arises predominantly from variability within a single bouton. Possible origins of this variability are discussed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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