Structural Plasticity
In correspondence to its activity, ribbon synapses can have synaptic ribbons that vary in size. In mouse photoreceptor synapses when the neurotransmitter release rate is high and exocytosis is high, the synaptic ribbons are long. When neurotransmitter release rate is low and exocytosis is low, the synaptic ribbons are short. This has been identified with RIBEYE with the current hypothesis being that synaptic ribbons can enlarge by the addition of more RIBEYE subunit. RIBEYE interactions are required to form a scaffold formation protein of the synaptic ribbon.
Read more about this topic: Ribbon Synapse, Structure
Famous quotes containing the word structural:
“The reader uses his eyes as well as or instead of his ears and is in every way encouraged to take a more abstract view of the language he sees. The written or printed sentence lends itself to structural analysis as the spoken does not because the reader’s eye can play back and forth over the words, giving him time to divide the sentence into visually appreciated parts and to reflect on the grammatical function.”
—J. David Bolter (b. 1951)