Updated March 19, 2024
Research Spotlight
Synaptotagmin-7 Counteracts Short-Term Depression during Phasic Dopamine Release
Neurons communicate with one another by releasing molecules that act on downstream receptors. For fast neurotransmitters such as glutamate or GABA, the protein machinery that participates in release is well-characterized. However, less is known about release of neuromodulators like dopamine that act on slower time scales. Here, Lebowitz, Kissiwaa, and colleagues show that the calcium sensor synaptotagmin-7 regulates dopamine release in a similar fashion to its role in the release of fast neurotransmitters.
Vision begins in the retina where the photoreceptor outputs are processed then conveyed to the brain by 20 or more ganglion cell types, each carrying a distinct message about the spatial, temporal, and spectral properties of incoming light. Understanding the contents of these messages and the retinal circuitry that generate them is a key goal for visual neuroscience. Here Patterson, Girresch and colleagues used 3D reconstructions to map the upstream circuitry for the rare ON smooth monostratified ganglion cells and the more common, well-studied parasol ganglion cells. The authors found the two ganglion cell types employ different sampling strategies to extract distinct types of visual information from a common set of synaptic inputs.
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