A technology called single-molecule imaging has enabled scientists at the University of Maryland to identify the architecture of synapses – the tiny junctions that connect neurons together – and ...

(1) A nerve impulse arrives. (2) This causes calcium ion channels to open, resulting in an influx of calcium ions in the terminal. (3) This causes synaptic vesicles to fuse with the terminal membrane, ...

Synaptic activity modulates synaptic efficacy and is important in learning and development. Here we show that development of excitability in presynaptic motor neurons required synaptic activation of ...

Synaptic plasticity describes the biological process that enables learning and memory through facilitating changes in the connections between synapses. Interaction with the external world results in ...

It takes just a few milliseconds: A vesicle, only a few nanometers in size and filled with neurotransmitters, approaches a cell membrane, fuses with it, and releases its chemical messengers into the ...