Axodendritic synapse

Figure 2.5. The synapse. GPCR = guanine nucleotide-binding protein-coupled receptor, LGICR = ligand-gated ion channel receptor, SB = synaptic bouton, T = neurotransmitter, YOC = voltage-operated ion channel protein, YOCC = voltage-operated calcium channel protein, Ast = astrocyte, AA = axoaxonal synapse, ASD = axosomatic or axodendritic synapse. GPCR 1 = receptor protein, 2 = G-protein, 3 = enzyme, 4 = ion channel protein.

Stafford MM, Brown MN, Mishra P et al (2010) Glutamate spillover augments GABA synthesis and release from axodendritic synapses in rat hippocampus. Hippocampus 20 134-144... 

Sassoe-Pognetto M, Utvik JK, Camoletto P, Watanabe M, Stephenson FA, et al. 2003. Organization of postsynaptic density proteins and glutamate receptors in axodendritic dendrodendritic synapses of the rat olfactory bulb. J Comp Neurol 463 237-248. 

El Majdoubi M, Poulain DA, Theodosis DT (1997) Lactation-induced plasticity in the supraoptic nucleus augments axodendritic and axosomatic GABAergic and glutamatergic synapses an ultrastructural analysis using the disector method. Neuroscience 86 1137-1147. 

All afferent inputs to the striatum that have been studied so far have formed axonal fields in which the individual axonal branches cross over the dendrites of individual spiny neurons, making synapses mostly en passant. This is the cruciform axodendritic pattern of innervation (Fox et al. 1971), which places each axon into position to contact the maximum number of neurons but minimizes the number of synapses possible with each postsynaptic cell. This is in contrast to the longitudinal axodendritic synaptic arrangement formed by striatopallidal fibers (Fox and Rafols 1976), in which individual axonal branches form multiple synaptic contacts on the dendrites of postsynaptic neurons. 

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