Improved imaging technique reveals synaptic transmission at quantal resolution in fruit fly larvae

Synapses, including those using glutamate as a neurotransmitter, vary greatly in pre- and post-synaptic transmission properties. How differences in pre-synaptic release characteristics, short term plasticity, and homeostatic stability-promoting regulation relate to one another and to this diversity is poorly understood. At the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Ehud Isacoff and his group used the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a model system for studying glutamatergic transmission, to better understand these mechanisms. They used novel quantal resolution imaging to study the role of input and synapse specificity in the regulation of basal synaptic strength, plasticity, and homeostasis.