Nature
Nature
5 years ago

Axonal synapse sorting in medial entorhinal cortex

Axonal synapse sorting in medial entorhinal cortex
Moritz Helmstaedter, Kevin M. Boergens, Jakob Straehle, Helene Schmidt, Michael Brecht, Anjali Gour
Research on neuronal connectivity in the cerebral cortex has focused on the existence and strength of synapses between neurons, and their location on the cell bodies and dendrites of postsynaptic neurons. The synaptic architecture of individual presynaptic axonal trees, however, remains largely unknown. Here we used dense reconstructions from three-dimensional electron microscopy in rats to study the synaptic organization of local presynaptic axons in layer 2 of the medial entorhinal cortex, the site of grid-like spatial representations. We observe path-length-dependent axonal synapse sorting, such that axons of excitatory neurons sequentially target inhibitory neurons followed by excitatory neurons. Connectivity analysis revealed a cellular feedforward inhibition circuit involving wide, myelinated inhibitory axons and dendritic synapse clustering. Simulations show that this high-precision circuit can control the propagation of synchronized activity in the medial entorhinal cortex, which is known for temporally precise discharges.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature24005

DOI: 10.1038/nature24005

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