Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, H3A 2K6 Montreal, Canada; Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Street, H3A 2B4 Montreal, Canada.
ACS Chem Neurosci. 2011 Dec 21;2(12):700-4. doi: 10.1021/cn200094j. Epub 2011 Oct 4.
The ultrastructural details of presynapses formed between artificial substrates of submicrometer silica beads and hippocampal neurons are visualized via cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The silica beads are derivatized by poly-d-lysine or lipid bilayers. Molecular features known to exist at presynapses are clearly present at these artificial synapses, as visualized by cryo-EM. Key synaptic features such as the membrane contact area at synaptic junctions, the presynaptic bouton containing presynaptic vesicles, as well as microtubular structures can be identified. This is the first report of the direct, label-free observation of ultrastructural details of artificial synapses.
通过冷冻电子显微镜(cryo-EM)可视化了在亚微米二氧化硅珠和海马神经元之间形成的人工基质的突触前的超微结构细节。通过聚赖氨酸或脂质双层对二氧化硅珠进行衍生化。通过 cryo-EM 可以清楚地看到存在于这些人工突触中的已知存在于突触前的分子特征。可以识别出关键的突触特征,如突触连接处的膜接触面积、含有突触小泡的突触前小球,以及微管结构。这是直接、无标记观察人工突触超微结构细节的首次报道。