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Postsynaptic Determinants of Inhibitory Transmission at Mixed GABAergic/Glycinergic Synapses

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Co-Existence and Co-Release of Classical Neurotransmitters

Abstract

In the vertebrate central nervous system, ionotropic inhibition is mediated by two neurotransmitters: GABA and glycine. While inhibitory neurons of the forebrain release mainly GABA, both neurotransmitters coexist in most structures of the hindbrain. More specifically, a majority of hindbrain inhibitory neurons contain both GABA and glycine that accumulate in the same vesicle and are co-released. On the postsynaptic side, GABA and glycine activate separate chloride-permeant ionotropic receptors that display similar biophysical properties. We review here the distribution and organization of inhibitory co-transmission, with an emphasis on the postsynaptic side of the synapse. We show that very different types of functional organization have been adopted by mixed inhibitory circuits. However one rule is always preserved: the GABAergic and glycinergic components of mixed inhibitory synapses display different decay kinetics. GABAA receptor kinetics are determined by the combination of a rich variety of subunits. In contrast glycinergic receptors are assembled from a small number of subunits and most adult neurons may express the same receptor type. Accumulating evidence suggests that the kinetics of glycine synaptic currents could be determined and modulated in an activity dependant manner, through various mechanisms. In conclusion we propose that tunable glycinergic inhibition timecourse may optimize rate-coding circuits of the hindbrain whereas forebrain coding through oscillations and synchrony may benefit from the rigid yet diverse subunit combination of GABAA receptors.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Eric Schwartz for critically reading the manuscript. This work was supported by grant ANR-05-neur-030-03, by the CNRS and the INSERM.

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  1. Laboratoire de neurobiologie, CNRS UMR8544, Ecole normale supérieure, 46 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris, France

    Stéphane Dieudonné

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Correspondence to Stéphane Dieudonné .

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    Rafael Gutierrez

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Dieudonné, S., Diana, M.A. (2009). Postsynaptic Determinants of Inhibitory Transmission at Mixed GABAergic/Glycinergic Synapses. In: Gutierrez, R. (eds) Co-Existence and Co-Release of Classical Neurotransmitters. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09622-3_7

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