TY - JOUR
T1 - The diverse roles of ribbon synapses in sensory neurotransmission
AU - Matthews, Gary
AU - Fuchs, Paul
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are supported by the National Institutes of Health (National Eye Institute grant R01EY003821 to G.M.) and the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (grants R01DC000276, R01DC001508 and P30 DC005211 to P.F.)
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - Sensory synapses of the visual and auditory systems must faithfully encode a wide dynamic range of graded signals, and must be capable of sustained transmitter release over long periods of time. Functionally and morphologically, these sensory synapses are unique: their active zones are specialized in several ways for sustained, rapid vesicle exocytosis, but their most striking feature is an organelle called the synaptic ribbon, which is a proteinaceous structure that extends into the cytoplasm at the active zone and tethers a large pool of releasable vesicles. But precisely how does the ribbon function to support tonic release at these synapses? Recent genetic and biophysical advances have begun to open the 'black box' of the synaptic ribbon with some surprising findings and promise to resolve its function in vision and hearing.
AB - Sensory synapses of the visual and auditory systems must faithfully encode a wide dynamic range of graded signals, and must be capable of sustained transmitter release over long periods of time. Functionally and morphologically, these sensory synapses are unique: their active zones are specialized in several ways for sustained, rapid vesicle exocytosis, but their most striking feature is an organelle called the synaptic ribbon, which is a proteinaceous structure that extends into the cytoplasm at the active zone and tethers a large pool of releasable vesicles. But precisely how does the ribbon function to support tonic release at these synapses? Recent genetic and biophysical advances have begun to open the 'black box' of the synaptic ribbon with some surprising findings and promise to resolve its function in vision and hearing.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650515181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=78650515181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/nrn2924
DO - 10.1038/nrn2924
M3 - Review article
C2 - 21045860
AN - SCOPUS:78650515181
SN - 1471-003X
VL - 11
SP - 812
EP - 822
JO - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
JF - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
IS - 12
ER -