Title:

The Sandwich Synapse: Trans-glial Signaling Between Neuronal Somata in the Dorsal Root Ganglion

Department: Physiology
Issue Date: Nov-2014
Abstract (summary): The dorsal root ganglion (DRG) contains the cell bodies of primary somatosensory neurons that form axonal connections for the transfer of sensory input from the peripheral nerve receptor to the spinal cord in the central nervous system. In general, DRG neuronal somata (NS) are each enveloped by individual satellite glial cell (SGC) sheaths. However, a subset of NS are closely-apposed and separated solely by a thin SGC membrane septum, forming a structural cell trimer. Using patch clamp electrophysiological recording, we reported that repetitive stimulation of one NS evokes a delayed, noisy and long-duration inward current in both itself and its passive partner. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that transmission between the two NS is via a bi-synaptic, trans-glial pathway that we term a `Sandwich Synapse'. The first, NS to glial cell, synapse involves ATP release from the neuron and purinergic activation of the glial cell. The second, glial cell to NS, synapse is glutamatergic. We find that inter-NS transmission at the DRG Sandwich Synapse involves Ca
Content Type: Thesis

Permanent link

https://hdl.handle.net/1807/73784

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