Abstract
Abstract Two-photon excitation has enabled investigators to image living cells in highly scattering media like the central nervous system (1). We have used a custom-built two-photon microscope to image dendritic spines from living cortical pyramidal neurons. Pyramidal cells form the majority of the neuron in the mammalian cortex and they receive practically all their synaptic contacts through dendritic spines. Dendritic spines are small (<1 μm diameter) appendages that have been practically inaccessible to physiological measurements until the application of two-photon excitation to their study (2). We have concentrated in two questions: A- Calcium compartmentalization of spines: Mechanisms of calcium decay kinetics. Dendritic spines can compartmentalize calcium (2). Although the mechanisms of calcium influx into spines have been explored (3), it is unknown what determines the calcium decay kinetics in spines. We investigate calcium dynamics in spines from rat CA1 pyramidal neurons in slices.
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