TY  - JOUR
AV  - public
Y1  - 2017/10//
TI  - Evaluation of Synapse Density in Hippocampal Rodent Brain Slices.
N1  - Copyright © 2017 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
License
IS  - 128
SN  - 1940-087X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/56153
ID  - discovery10025976
N2  - In the brain, synapses are specialized junctions between neurons, determining the strength and spread of neuronal signaling. The number of synapses is tightly regulated during development and neuronal maturation. Importantly, deficits in synapse number can lead to cognitive dysfunction. Therefore, the evaluation of synapse number is an integral part of neurobiology. However, as synapses are small and highly compact in the intact brain, the assessment of absolute number is challenging. This protocol describes a method to easily identify and evaluate synapses in hippocampal rodent slices using immunofluorescence microscopy. It includes a three-step procedure to evaluate synapses in high-quality confocal microscopy images by analyzing the co-localization of pre- and postsynaptic proteins in hippocampal slices. It also explains how the analysis is performed and gives representative examples from both excitatory and inhibitory synapses. This protocol provides a solid foundation for the analysis of synapses and can be applied to any research investigating the structure and function of the brain.
KW  - Neuroscience
KW  -  Issue 128
KW  -  Neurons
KW  -  synapses
KW  -  brain slices
KW  -  immunofluorescence
KW  -  hippocampus
KW  -  mouse
KW  -  rat
KW  -  vGlut1
KW  -  PSD-95
KW  -  vGAT
KW  - 
gephyrin
A1  - McLeod, F
A1  - Marzo, A
A1  - Podpolny, M
A1  - Galli, S
A1  - Salinas, P
JF  - J Vis Exp
ER  -