Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Mar;96(3):354-359.
doi: 10.1002/jnr.24154. Epub 2017 Oct 16.

The role of spontaneous neurotransmission in synapse and circuit development

Laura C Andreae  1   2   3 , Juan Burrone  1   2
Affiliations
Review

The role of spontaneous neurotransmission in synapse and circuit development

Laura C Andreae et al. J Neurosci Res. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

In the past, the spontaneous release of neurotransmitter from presynaptic terminals has been thought of as a side effect of evoked release, with little functional significance. As our understanding of the process of spontaneous release has increased over time, this notion has gradually changed. In this review, we focus on the importance of this form of release during neuronal development, a time of extreme levels of plasticity that includes the growth of dendrites and axons as well as the formation of new synaptic contacts. This period also encompasses high levels of neurotransmitter release from growing axons, and recent studies have found that spontaneous transmitter release plays an important role in shaping neuronal morphology as well as modulating the properties of newly forming synaptic contacts in the brain. Here, we bring together the latest findings across different species to argue that the spontaneous release of neurotransmitter is an important player in the wiring of the brain during development.

Keywords: dendritic arbor; development; miniature; neurotransmitter release; spontaneous; synapse formation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Spontaneous release is important for axonal and dendritic development. A. Neurons undergo both spontaneous and evoked release during development (traces on the left) and tools can be used to selectively interfere with spontaneous release (traces on the right). B. At the Drosophila neuromuscular junction (NMJ), interfering with spontaneous neurotransmitter release, but not evoked release, during the period of synaptogenesis causes the formation of aberrant presynaptic terminal boutons. These are mainly observed as an increased number of small presynaptic boutons and a decrease in overall synaptic terminal area. C. In mammalian hippocampal neurons, where release from developing axons occurs predominantly in a spontaneous manner and activates dendritic NMDA receptors (yellow event), interfering with NMDAR activity driven by spontaneous release results in less complex dendritic arbors
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Andreae, L. C. , & Burrone, J. (2014). The role of neuronal activity and transmitter release on synapse formation. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 27, 47‐52. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andreae, L. C. , & Burrone, J. (2015). Spontaneous neurotransmitter release shapes dendritic arbors via long‐range activation of nmda receptors. Cell Reports, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.01.032. [Epub ahead of print] - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andreae, L. C. , Fredj, N. B. , & Burrone, J. (2012). Independent vesicle pools underlie different modes of release during neuronal development. The Journal of Neuroscience, 32(5):1867‐1874. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Atasoy, D. , Ertunc, M. , Moulder, K. L. , Blackwell, J. , Chung, C. , Su, J. , & Kavalali, E. T. (2008). Spontaneous and evoked glutamate release activates two populations of NMDA receptors with limited overlap. The Journal of Neuroscience, 28(40):10151‐10166. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Autry, A. E. , Adachi, M. , Nosyreva, E. , Na, E. S. , Los, M. F. , Cheng, P. F. , Kavalali, E. T. , & Monteggia, L. M. (2011). NMDA receptor blockade at rest triggers rapid behavioural antidepressant responses. Nature, 475(7354):91‐95. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances