Journal
FRONTIERS IN NEURAL CIRCUITS
Volume 3, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS RES FOUND
DOI: 10.3389/neuro.04.004.2009
Keywords
cortex; nonpyramidal cell; parvalbumin; section thickness; synapse; 3D reconstruction; dendrite; tomography
Categories
Funding
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan [18019037, 20020032]
- Hayama Center for Advanced Studies (HCAS)
- Naito Foundation Subsidy for Natural Science Researches
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [18019037, 20020032] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Quantitative analysis of anatomical synaptic connectivity in microcircuits depends upon accurate three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of synaptic ultrastructure using electron microscopy of serial ultrathin sections. Here we address two pitfalls in current methodology that lead to inaccurate reconstructions and compromise conclusions drawn from the data. The first pitfall is inaccurate determination of ultrathin section thickness, which negatively affects the 3D shape of reconstructions and therefore impairs quantitative measurement of synaptic structures. Secondly, current methodology significantly underestimates the number of synaptic junctions, with only two-thirds or less of genuine synaptic contacts being identified in dendrites that radiate within the plane of section. Here we propose a new methodology utilizing precise optical measurements of section thickness and successive observations of synaptic elements across serial ultrathin sections that corrects for these limitations to allow accurate 3D reconstruction of synaptic ultrastructure. We use this methodology to reveal that parvalbumin-expressing cortical interneurons have a much higher synaptic density than previously shown. This result suggests that this technique will be useful for re-examining synaptic connectivity of other cell types.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available