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Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders

Recent research has provided strong evidence that neurodegeneration may develop from an imbalance between synaptic structural components in the brain. Lately, inhibitory synapses communicating via the neurotransmitters GABA or glycine have come to the center of attention. Increasing evidence suggest...

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Autores principales: Radulović, Snježana, Sunkara, Sowmya, Maurer, Christa, Leitinger, Gerd
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8623765/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34830352
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms222212470
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author Radulović, Snježana
Sunkara, Sowmya
Maurer, Christa
Leitinger, Gerd
author_facet Radulović, Snježana
Sunkara, Sowmya
Maurer, Christa
Leitinger, Gerd
author_sort Radulović, Snježana
collection PubMed
description Recent research has provided strong evidence that neurodegeneration may develop from an imbalance between synaptic structural components in the brain. Lately, inhibitory synapses communicating via the neurotransmitters GABA or glycine have come to the center of attention. Increasing evidence suggests that imbalance in the structural composition of inhibitory synapses affect deeply the ability of neurons to communicate effectively over synaptic connections. Progressive failure of synaptic plasticity and memory are thus hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases. In order to prove that structural changes at synapses contribute to neurodegeneration, we need to visualize single-molecule interactions at synaptic sites in an exact spatial and time frame. This visualization has been restricted in terms of spatial and temporal resolution. New developments in electron microscopy and super-resolution microscopy have improved spatial and time resolution tremendously, opening up numerous possibilities. Here we critically review current and recently developed methods for high-resolution visualization of inhibitory synapses in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. We present advantages, strengths, weaknesses, and current limitations for selected methods in research, as well as present a future perspective. A range of new options has become available that will soon help understand the involvement of inhibitory synapses in neurodegenerative disorders.
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spelling pubmed-86237652021-11-27 Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders Radulović, Snježana Sunkara, Sowmya Maurer, Christa Leitinger, Gerd Int J Mol Sci Review Recent research has provided strong evidence that neurodegeneration may develop from an imbalance between synaptic structural components in the brain. Lately, inhibitory synapses communicating via the neurotransmitters GABA or glycine have come to the center of attention. Increasing evidence suggests that imbalance in the structural composition of inhibitory synapses affect deeply the ability of neurons to communicate effectively over synaptic connections. Progressive failure of synaptic plasticity and memory are thus hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases. In order to prove that structural changes at synapses contribute to neurodegeneration, we need to visualize single-molecule interactions at synaptic sites in an exact spatial and time frame. This visualization has been restricted in terms of spatial and temporal resolution. New developments in electron microscopy and super-resolution microscopy have improved spatial and time resolution tremendously, opening up numerous possibilities. Here we critically review current and recently developed methods for high-resolution visualization of inhibitory synapses in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. We present advantages, strengths, weaknesses, and current limitations for selected methods in research, as well as present a future perspective. A range of new options has become available that will soon help understand the involvement of inhibitory synapses in neurodegenerative disorders. MDPI 2021-11-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8623765/ /pubmed/34830352 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms222212470 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Radulović, Snježana
Sunkara, Sowmya
Maurer, Christa
Leitinger, Gerd
Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders
title Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders
title_full Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders
title_fullStr Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders
title_full_unstemmed Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders
title_short Digging Deeper: Advancements in Visualization of Inhibitory Synapses in Neurodegenerative Disorders
title_sort digging deeper: advancements in visualization of inhibitory synapses in neurodegenerative disorders
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8623765/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34830352
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms222212470
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