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Dynamic distribution of endoplasmic reticulum in hippocampal neuron dendritic spines
Author(s) -
Toresson Håkan,
Grant Seth G. N.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04342.x
Subject(s) - endoplasmic reticulum , dendritic spine , dendritic filopodia , hippocampal formation , spine (molecular biology) , organelle , neuron , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , confocal , neuroscience , geometry , mathematics
The role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) localized in dendritic spines has become a subject of intense interest because of its potential functions in local protein synthesis and signal transduction. Although it is recognized from electron microscopic studies that not all spines contain ER, little is know of its dynamic regulation or turnover. Here, we report a surprising degree of turnover of ER within spines. Using confocal microscopy imaging we observed continuity of spine‐ER with dendritic ER in hippocampal primary neurons. Over 24 h, less than 50% of spine ER was stable. Despite this high degree of turn over, we identified a significant subset of spines that maintained ER for at least 4 days. These results indicate that within a single neuron, the organelle composition of a spine is unexpectedly dynamic and may explain aspects of the spine‐to‐spine variation in calcium spike magnitude and localized protein synthesis and trafficking.