Bergsman Jeremy B, De Camilli Pietro, McCormick David A
Department of Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, P.O. Box 208001, New Haven, CT 06520-8001, USA.
J Neurophysiol. 2004 Jul;92(1):545-52. doi: 10.1152/jn.00927.2003.
The calyx of Held is a giant nerve terminal that forms a synapse directly onto the principal cells of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) in the mammalian auditory brain stem. This central synapse, which is involved in sound localization, has become widely used for studying synaptic transmission. Anatomical studies of this nucleus have indicated that each principal cell is innervated by only one calyx. Here we use previously established electrophysiological criteria of excitatory postsynaptic current amplitude, kinetics, and transmitter type, as well as other characteristics commonly reported for this synapse, to examine the input properties of principal neurons. Our findings indicate that some principal cells receive more than one strong excitatory input. These inputs meet previously established electrophysiological criteria for identification as calyceal nerve terminals. Implications for the execution and analysis of experiments to avoid errors due to such multiple inputs are discussed.
Held 壶腹是一个巨大的神经末梢，它在哺乳动物听觉脑干中直接与梯形体内侧核（MNTB）的主细胞形成突触。这个参与声音定位的中枢突触已被广泛用于研究突触传递。对该核的解剖学研究表明，每个主细胞仅由一个壶腹支配。在这里，我们使用先前建立的兴奋性突触后电流幅度、动力学和递质类型的电生理标准，以及该突触通常报道的其他特征，来检查主神经元的输入特性。我们的研究结果表明，一些主细胞接受不止一个强兴奋性输入。这些输入符合先前建立的作为壶腹神经末梢识别的电生理标准。讨论了在实验执行和分析中避免由于这种多个输入导致错误的影响。
