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Synaptic Integration at Neuron-OPC Synapses

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New Technologies for Glutamate Interaction

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 207))

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Abstract

The synapses between neurons and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in the central nervous system (CNS) have similar ultrastructures as neuron-neuron synapses and follow the quantal transmission rule. Since OPCs have highly ramified processes, each single OPC can receive up to 100 synaptic contacts with neighboring axons. Therefore, addressing how OPCs integrate synaptic inputs from different axons will significantly advance our understanding of the functional implication of these synapses. This chapter describes experimental and computational methodologies to investigate synaptic integration in OPCs. As neuronal activity-induced downstream signaling often occurs locally within the thin processes of OPCs, we will emphasize the methods to explore how OPCs integrate synaptic inputs within local compartments of the thin processes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Wenjing Sun

Authors
  1. Wenjing Sun
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Correspondence to Wenjing Sun .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Science Park of the UPV/EHU, Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience, Leioa, Spain

    Maria Kukley

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© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Sun, W. (2024). Synaptic Integration at Neuron-OPC Synapses. In: Kukley, M. (eds) New Technologies for Glutamate Interaction. Neuromethods, vol 207. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3742-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3742-5_13

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3741-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3742-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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