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Science 12 September 1997:
Vol. 277. no. 5332, pp. 1684 - 1687
DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5332.1684
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Reports

Synaptic Efficacy Enhanced by Glial Cells in Vitro

Frank W. Pfrieger, *dagger Barbara A. Barres

In the developing nervous system, glial cells guide axons to their target areas, but it is unknown whether they help neurons to establish functional synaptic connections. The role of glial cells in synapse formation and function was studied in cultures of purified neurons from the rat central nervous system. In glia-free cultures, retinal ganglion cells formed synapses with normal ultrastructure but displayed little spontaneous synaptic activity and high failure rates in evoked synaptic transmission. In cocultures with neuroglia, the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous postsynaptic currents were potentiated by 70-fold and 5-fold, respectively, and fewer transmission failures occurred. Glial cells increased the action potential-independent quantal release by 12-fold without affecting neuronal survival. Thus, developing neurons in culture form inefficient synapses that require glial signals to become fully functional.

Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Sherman Fairchild Science Building, 299 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5125, USA.
*   Present address: Synapse Formation and Function Group, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert-Rössle-Strasse 10, 13122 Berlin-Buch, Germany.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fpfrieg{at}mdc-berlin.de

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