Open AccessSynaptic counts approximate synaptic contact area in Drosophila
Author(s) -
Christopher L. Barnes,
Daniel Bonnéry,
Albert Cardona
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0266064
Subject(s) - neuroscience , neurotransmission , synaptic augmentation , synaptic fatigue , connectomics , postsynaptic potential , synaptic cleft , synaptic plasticity , postsynaptic density , synaptic pharmacology , neuron , biology , excitatory postsynaptic potential , neurotransmitter , connectome , central nervous system , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , biochemistry , receptor , functional connectivity
The pattern of synaptic connections among neurons defines the circuit structure, which constrains the computations that a circuit can perform. The strength of synaptic connections is costly to measure yet important for accurate circuit modeling. Synaptic surface area has been shown to correlate with synaptic strength, yet in the emerging field of connectomics, most studies rely instead on the counts of synaptic contacts between two neurons. Here we quantified the relationship between synaptic count and synaptic area as measured from volume electron microscopy of the larval Drosophila central nervous system. We found that the total synaptic surface area, summed across all synaptic contacts from one presynaptic neuron to a postsynaptic one, can be accurately predicted solely from the number of synaptic contacts, for a variety of neurotransmitters. Our findings support the use of synaptic counts for approximating synaptic strength when modeling neural circuits.