title: Synaptic Efficacy as a Function of Ionotropic Receptor Distribution: A Computational Study.
abstract: Glutamatergic synapses are the most prevalent functional elements of information processing in the brain. Changes in pre-synaptic activity and in the function of various post-synaptic elements contribute to generate a large variety of synaptic responses. Previous studies have explored postsynaptic factors responsible for regulating synaptic strength variations, but have given far less importance to synaptic geometry, and more specifically to the subcellular distribution of ionotropic receptors. We analyzed the functional effects resulting from changing the subsynaptic localization of ionotropic receptors by using a hippocampal synaptic computational framework. The present study was performed using the EONS (Elementary Objects of the Nervous System) synaptic modeling platform, which was specifically developed to explore the roles of subsynaptic elements as well as their interactions, and that of synaptic geometry. More specifically, we determined the effects of changing the localization of ionotropic receptors relative to the presynaptic glutamate release site, on synaptic efficacy and its variations following single pulse and paired-pulse stimulation protocols. The results indicate that changes in synaptic geometry do have consequences on synaptic efficacy and its dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sushmita L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Allam
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America; Rhenovia Pharma, Mulhouse, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Marie C
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bouteiller
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eric Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Rhenovia Pharma, Mulhouse, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ambert
authors.affiliation: Rhenovia Pharma, Mulhouse, France.
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Greget
authors.affiliation: Rhenovia Pharma, Mulhouse, France.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bischoff
authors.affiliation: Rhenovia Pharma, Mulhouse, France; Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baudry
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Theodore W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism*; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018091:Receptors, AMPA; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D018698:Glutamic Acid