Immunogold labeling was used to identify serotoninergic synapses of the chemical and mixed types on the ventral dendrite (VD) of Mauthner neurons (MN) in goldfish. These had the characteristic feature that they contained several mitochondria in the bouton and, apart from an active zone (AZ), had an obligatory desmosome-like contact (DlC). The AZ of these synapses generally contacted unlabeled chemical crested synapses, which in turn interacted directly with the VD. These latter synapses had virtually no mitochondria and lacked a DlC, such that they could be identified as inhibitory. This “two-level” organization of excitatory serotoninergic and inhibitory synapses appears to be directly related to the reciprocal mechanism regulating the functional activity of MN via the visual apparatus.
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Translated from Morfologiya, Vol. 143, No. 1, pp. 11–15, January–February, 2013.
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Mikheeva, I.B., Grigor’eva, E.E., Mikhailova, G.Z. et al. Serotoninergic Synapses on the Ventral Dendrite of Mauthner Neurons (an ultrastructural study using immunogold labeling). Neurosci Behav Physi 44, 5–8 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-013-9865-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-013-9865-2