title: Targeted intracellular voltage recordings from dendritic spines using quantum-dot-coated nanopipettes.
abstract: Dendritic spines are the primary site of excitatory synaptic input onto neurons, and are biochemically isolated from the parent dendritic shaft by their thin neck. However, due to the lack of direct electrical recordings from spines, the influence that the neck resistance has on synaptic transmission, and the extent to which spines compartmentalize voltage, specifically excitatory postsynaptic potentials, albeit critical, remains controversial. Here, we use quantum-dot-coated nanopipette electrodes (tip diameters ∼15-30 nm) to establish the first intracellular recordings from targeted spine heads under two-photon visualization. Using simultaneous somato-spine electrical recordings, we find that back propagating action potentials fully invade spines, that excitatory postsynaptic potentials are large in the spine head (mean 26 mV) but are strongly attenuated at the soma (0.5-1 mV) and that the estimated neck resistance (mean 420 MΩ) is large enough to generate significant voltage compartmentalization. Nanopipettes can thus be used to electrically probe biological nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Kavli Institute of Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jayant
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Kavli Institute of Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Jan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hirtz
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Ilan Jen-La
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Plante
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Kavli Institute of Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Kavli Institute of Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Wieteke D A M
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: De Boer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Alexa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Semonche
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Kavli Institute of Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Darcy S
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7351-5820
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Peterka
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Kavli Institute of Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Shepard
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.|Kavli Institute of Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yuste
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000378:metabolism*; D004566:Electrodes; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D059227:Postsynaptic Potential Summation; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible