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Advanced Patch-Clamp Analysis for Neuroscientists pp 193–211Cite as

Extracting Quantal Properties of Transmission at Central Synapses

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Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 113))

Abstract

Chemical synapses enable neurons to communicate rapidly, process and filter signals and to store information. However, studying their functional properties is difficult because synaptic connections typically consist of multiple synaptic contacts that release vesicles stochastically and exhibit time-dependent behavior. Moreover, most central synapses are small and inaccessible to direct measurements. Estimation of synaptic properties from postsynaptic currents or potentials is complicated by the presence of nonuniform release probability and nonuniform quantal properties. The presence of multivesicular release and postsynaptic receptor saturation at some synapses can also complicate the interpretation of quantal parameters. Multiple-probability fluctuation analysis (MPFA; also known as variance-mean analysis) is a method that has been developed for estimating synaptic parameters from the variance and mean amplitude of synaptic responses recorded at different release probabilities. This statistical approach, which incorporates nonuniform synaptic properties, has become widely used for studying synaptic transmission. In this chapter, we describe the statistical models used to extract quantal parameters and discuss their interpretation when applying MPFA.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Antoine Valera for comments on the manuscript. FL is supported by an IEF Marie Curie fellowship (FP7) and RAS holds a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship and an ERC Advanced Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Frederic Lanore & R. Angus Silver

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  1. Frederic Lanore
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  2. R. Angus Silver
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Correspondence to R. Angus Silver .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Alon Korngreen

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Lanore, F., Silver, R.A. (2016). Extracting Quantal Properties of Transmission at Central Synapses. In: Korngreen, A. (eds) Advanced Patch-Clamp Analysis for Neuroscientists. Neuromethods, vol 113. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3411-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3411-9_10

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

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