Topic: spine apparatus

Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is a developmental disorder of the cerebral cortex and a main cause of drug-resistant epilepsy in children. A loss of the excitation and inhibition (E/I) balance has emerged as a key feature for neuronal hyperexcitability, underlying the pathogenesis of seizures. However, it remains unclear how synaptic ultrastructure is altered in the human patients with FCD. Here we performed morphological analyses on the synaptic density, shape, and distribution of intrasynaptic organelles in the temporal cortical layer III of a FCD patient using 3D electron microscopy. Our qu

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a network of membranes that regulates different cellular processes such as protein and lipid biogenesis, Ca2+ homeostasis and transport. Within neurons, the ER surface is huge and forms distinct structures depending on its cellular localization. Dense stacks of ER membranes, known as cisterna, have been identified in neurons, notably within the axonal initial segment (AIS, cisternal organelle) and dendritic spines (spine apparatus). While the specific functions of these cisternal structures are not fully understood, their role in spines is associated with calc

Denervation of brain regions is a common aspect of neurological diseases caused by traumatic brain injury or demyelination. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying lesion-induced reorganization of the affected brain regions is a matter of ongoing investigation.Using an entorhinal cortex lesion in mouse organotypic entorhino-hippocampal tissue cultures, we investigated denervation-induced adaptations in dentate granule cells, CA3 pyramidal neurons and their monosynaptic connection – the mossy fiber synapse. For functional and structural analysis of these cells, we employed single and paired who