Topic: synapse

Dysregulation of emotional processing and its integration with cognitive functions are central features of many mental/emotional disorders associated both with externalizing problems (aggressive, antisocial behaviors) and internalizing problems (anxiety, depression). As Dr. Joseph LeDoux, our invited speaker of this program, wrote in his famous book “Synaptic self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are”—the brain’s synapses—are the channels through which we think, act, imagine, feel, and remember. Synapses encode the essence of personality, enabling each of us to function as a distinctive, integrat

The functioning of a synapse depends on its accessibility to proteins and, thus, on the localization of protein sources along the dendrite (Westenbroek 2009, Vacher et al. 2008). Therefore, the behaviour of the synapse highly depends on the availability of proteins and ion channels and any perturbation in the localization and availability of these components would lead to a dysfunction of the synapse. Hence, understanding the localization and distribution of ion channels and proteins in the dendrite in relation to the synapse is crucial. Using super-resolution microscopy, Helm et al., 2021 der