Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons

Dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra have long been believed to have multiple aspiny dendrites which receive many glutamatergic synaptic inputs from several regions of the brain. But, here, using high-resolution two-photon confocal microscopy in the mouse brain slices, we found a substantial num...

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Main Authors:	Jang, Miae, Bum Um, Ki, Jang, Jinyoung, Jin Kim, Hyun, Cho, Hana, Chung, Sungkwon, Kyu Park, Myoung
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4593176/

id	pubmed-4593176
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-45931762015-10-19 Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons Jang, Miae Bum Um, Ki Jang, Jinyoung Jin Kim, Hyun Cho, Hana Chung, Sungkwon Kyu Park, Myoung Article Dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra have long been believed to have multiple aspiny dendrites which receive many glutamatergic synaptic inputs from several regions of the brain. But, here, using high-resolution two-photon confocal microscopy in the mouse brain slices, we found a substantial number of common dendritic spines in the nigral dopamine neurons including thin, mushroom, and stubby types of spines. However, the number of dendritic spines of the dopamine neurons was approximately five times lower than that of CA1 pyramidal neurons. Immunostaining and morphological analysis revealed that glutamatergic shaft synapses were present two times more than spine synapses. Using local two-photon glutamate uncaging techniques, we confirmed that shaft synapses and spine synapses had both AMPA and NMDA receptors, but the AMPA/NMDA current ratios differed. The evoked postsynaptic potentials of spine synapses showed lower amplitudes but longer half-widths than those of shaft synapses. Therefore, we provide the first evidence that the midbrain dopamine neurons have two morphologically and functionally distinct types of glutamatergic synapses, spine synapses and shaft synapses, on the same dendrite. This peculiar organization could be a new basis for unraveling many physiological and pathological functions of the midbrain dopamine neurons. Nature Publishing Group 2015-10-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4593176/ /pubmed/26435058 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep14773 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Jang, Miae Bum Um, Ki Jang, Jinyoung Jin Kim, Hyun Cho, Hana Chung, Sungkwon Kyu Park, Myoung
spellingShingle	Jang, Miae Bum Um, Ki Jang, Jinyoung Jin Kim, Hyun Cho, Hana Chung, Sungkwon Kyu Park, Myoung Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons
author_facet	Jang, Miae Bum Um, Ki Jang, Jinyoung Jin Kim, Hyun Cho, Hana Chung, Sungkwon Kyu Park, Myoung
author_sort	Jang, Miae
title	Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons
title_short	Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons
title_full	Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons
title_fullStr	Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons
title_full_unstemmed	Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons
title_sort	coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons
description	Dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra have long been believed to have multiple aspiny dendrites which receive many glutamatergic synaptic inputs from several regions of the brain. But, here, using high-resolution two-photon confocal microscopy in the mouse brain slices, we found a substantial number of common dendritic spines in the nigral dopamine neurons including thin, mushroom, and stubby types of spines. However, the number of dendritic spines of the dopamine neurons was approximately five times lower than that of CA1 pyramidal neurons. Immunostaining and morphological analysis revealed that glutamatergic shaft synapses were present two times more than spine synapses. Using local two-photon glutamate uncaging techniques, we confirmed that shaft synapses and spine synapses had both AMPA and NMDA receptors, but the AMPA/NMDA current ratios differed. The evoked postsynaptic potentials of spine synapses showed lower amplitudes but longer half-widths than those of shaft synapses. Therefore, we provide the first evidence that the midbrain dopamine neurons have two morphologically and functionally distinct types of glutamatergic synapses, spine synapses and shaft synapses, on the same dendrite. This peculiar organization could be a new basis for unraveling many physiological and pathological functions of the midbrain dopamine neurons.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4593176/
_version_	1613483447582457856

Coexistence of glutamatergic spine synapses and shaft synapses in substantia nigra dopamine neurons

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