Topic: glutamate uncaging

Understanding the intricate network of molecular interactions responsible for synaptic plasticity remains a significant challenge in neuroscience research. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) has been repeatedly implicated in the plasticity of excitatory synapses, notably in proBDNF processing. Our current study extends these findings by elucidating MMP-9's crucial role in dendritic spine plasticity through its involvement in the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGFIR) signaling pathway. Specifically, we demonstrate that MMP-9 is essential for IGFIR activation, a key process in long-term

Site-specific synaptic plasticity modifying the strength of a particular, individual synapse is critical to cognitive functions such as memory and learning (Kastellakis et al., 2019; Tazerart et al., 2020). This specificity coexists with the experimental observation that the dendrite-wide spine sizes and weights follow a surprisingly stable, lognormal-like distribution (Hasan et al. 2020; Eggl et al., 2023). How synaptic plasticity can be specific, yet the global synapse distribution stable, is an open question that has motivated several recent studies (Kirschner et al., 2019; Eggl et al., 202

Newly developed voltage indicators require fast scanning methods for effective signal recordings. The flexibility of AO imaging allows us to measure in a three-dimensional volume not only at the somatic level, but also the dendrites. Their high scanning frequency makes AO microscopes suitable for dendritic signal processing and plasticity research. Soma dependent and independent dendritic activities are highly investigated areas, but the spatio-temporal limitations of electrophysiology and conventional one- or two-photon devices have serious constraints when it comes to GEVI imaging. Here we s