Mesophasic Assembly of Inhibitory Postsynaptic Density

• 来源期刊: 神经科学通报（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（1）
• 所属期刊栏目: Research Highlights
• 页码范围: 141-143
• 页数: 3页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Neurotransmitter receptors are concentrated in a morpho-logical specialization of synapses known as the postsynap-tic density(PSD).A prominent PSD beneath the postsynaptic membrane in electron micrographs is a defining feature of excitatory synapses.Typically,the excitatory PSD(ePSD)has a disc-like shape 200-800 nm in diameter and 20-50 nm in thickness[1].In contrast,the inhibitory synapse only has thickened postsynaptic mem-branes in classical EM studies[2,3],thus whether inhibitory synapses contain PSD-like structures has been debated for decades.A few years ago,Bi and colleagues characterized the ultrastructure of excitatory and inhibitory synapses in cultured neurons by cryo-electron tomography(cryo-ET)and their high-resolution tomograms clearly showed electron-dense assemblies in both excitatory and inhibitory synapses[4].