From the Stochasticity of Molecular Processes to the Variability of Synaptic Transmission

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Neurosci

Specialty Neurology

Date 2011 Jun 21

PMID 21685931

Citations 77

Authors

Claire Ribrault

Ken Sekimoto

Antoine Triller

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The variability of the postsynaptic response following a single action potential arises from two sources: the neurotransmitter release is probabilistic, and the postsynaptic response to neurotransmitter release has variable timing and amplitude. At individual synapses, the number of molecules of a given type that are involved in these processes is small enough that the stochastic (random) properties of molecular events cannot be neglected. How the stochasticity of molecular processes contributes to the variability of synaptic transmission, its sensitivity and its robustness to molecular fluctuations has important implications for our understanding of the mechanistic basis of synaptic transmission and of synaptic plasticity.

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