Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 35, Issue 6, Pages 2423-2431Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4284-14.2015
Keywords
glutamate receptor; neurodegenerative disease; retina; synapse; synapse disassembly; vision
Categories
Funding
- Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship [EY-022910]
- Karl Kirchgessner Foundation Vision Research [EY-017101]
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Structural changes underlying neurodegenerative diseases include dismantling of synapses, degradation of circuitry, and even massive rewiring. Our limited understanding of synapse dismantling stems from the inability to control the timing and extent of cell death. In this study, selective ablation of cone photoreceptors in live mouse retina and tracking of postsynaptic partners at the cone-to-ON cone bipolar cell synapse reveals that early reaction to cone loss involves rapid and local changes in postsynaptic glutamate receptor distribution. Glutamate receptors disappear with a time constant of 2 h. Furthermore, binding of glutamate receptors by agonists and antagonists is insufficient to rescue glutamate receptor loss, suggesting that receptor allocation depends on the physical presence of cones. These findings demonstrate that the initial step in synapse disassembly involves postsynaptic receptor loss rather than dendritic retraction, providing insight into the early stages of neurodegenerative disease.
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