title: Helping thy neighbors: spillover at the mossy fiber glomerulus.
abstract: Neurotransmitter "spillover" between neighboring synapses challenges the principle of synapse specificity. In this issue of Neuron, show that release from neighboring presynaptic sites contributes significantly to AMPA receptor-mediated postsynaptic currents at cerebellar mossy fiber synapses. Unexpectedly, spillover is predicted to improve the reliability and reduce the variability of transmission at this glomerular synapse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Otis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology*; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013570:Synaptic Membranes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018091:Receptors, AMPA; D018698:Glutamic Acid