title: Minis: whence and wherefore?
abstract: In this issue of Neuron, Sara et al. find that spontaneously released miniature synaptic potentials arise from a pool of vesicles distinct from those released by neural activity. This modification of a basic tenet of the quantal hypothesis has important implications for the analysis of changes in synaptic transmission.
authors.affiliation: Helen Willis Neuroscience Institute, Molecular and Cell Biology Department, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Zucker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D008954:Models, Biological; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*; D013572:Synaptic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism