diffuse and specific tectopulvinar terminals in the tree shrew synapses, synapsins, and synaptic potentials扩散和特定tectopulvinar树鼩突触终端,synapsins和突触电位.pdfVIP

Diffuse and Specific Tectopulvinar Terminals in the Tree Shrew: Synapses, Synapsins, and Synaptic Potentials 1 1 2 1 Haiyang Wei , Sean P. Masterson , Heywood M. Petry , Martha E. Bickford * 1 Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America, 2 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America Abstract The pulvinar nucleus of the tree shrew receives both topographic (specific) and nontopographic (diffuse) projections from superior colliculus (SC), which form distinct synaptic arrangements. We characterized the physiological properties of these synapses and describe two distinct types of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) that correlate with structural properties of the specific and diffuse terminals. Synapses formed by specific terminals were found to be significantly longer than those formed by diffuse terminals. Stimulation of these two terminal types elicited two types of EPSPs that differed in their latency and threshold amplitudes. In addition, in response to repetitive stimulation (0.5–20 Hz) one type of EPSP displayed frequency-dependent depression whereas the amplitudes of the second type of EPSP were not changed by repetitive stimulation of up to 20Hz. To relate these features to vesicle release, we compared the synapsin content of terminals in the pulvinar nucleus and the dorsal lateral geniculate (dLGN) by combining immunohistochemical staining for synapsin I or II with staining for the type 1 or type 2 vesicular glutamate transporters (markers for corticothalamic and tectothalamic/retinogeniculate termin