title: Miniature transmitter release: accident of nature or careful design?
abstract: Miniature transmitter release results from the constitutive low-level release of individual vesicles of neurotransmitter. Since the 1950s, this form of synaptic transmission has largely been thought to reflect a leaky evoked-release mechanism, and it was not clear whether it had a function of its own. Recent data challenge this view and suggest that miniature release can affect both the local chemistry of synapses and the network properties of neurons.
authors.affiliation: Kinsmen Laboratory and Brain Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z3.
authors.forename: Yo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otsu
authors.forename: Timothy H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents