Single Synapse Imaging
Single Synapse Imaging - Related Videos
05:03
Assessing Immunological Synapse Topology through Live-Cell Imaging
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2025
This video demonstrates live-cell imaging of immunological synapse topology, investigating the interactions between T lymphocytes and epithelial cells carrying fluorescent antigens. Fluorescence microscopy reveals red cytoplasm displacement and yellow membrane rings in endothelial cells, indicating the formation of immunological synapses.
04:10
Analyzing the Glutamate Release and Clearance at a Single Neuron Synapse in a Mouse Brain Slice
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2025
This video demonstrates evaluating glutamate release and clearance at single corticostriatal synapses in a mouse brain slice. Electrical stimulation facilitates glutamate release at the synapse. The released glutamate alters sensor protein's fluorescence, which decays over time, indicating release and clearance efficiency.
18:11
Quantifying Synapses: an Immunocytochemistry-based Assay to Quantify Synapse Number
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Cited by 253 •
2010
This protocol details how to quantify synapse number both in dissociated neuronal culture and in brain sections using immunocytochemistry. Using compartment-specific antibodies, we label presynaptic terminals as well as sites of postsynaptic specialization. We define synapses as points of colocalization between the signals generated by these markers.
08:35
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the Immune Synapse in the Human System Using Imaging Flow Cytometry
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Cited by 9 •
2019
Here, we describe a complete workflow for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of immune synapses between primary human T cells and antigen-presenting cells. The method is based on imaging flow cytometry, which allows the acquisition and evaluation of several thousand cell images within a relatively short period of time.
09:25
An Endothelial Planar Cell Model for Imaging Immunological Synapse Dynamics
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Cited by 3 •
2015
Adaptive immunity is controlled by dynamic 'immunological synapses' formed between T cells and antigen presenting cells. This protocol describes methods for investigating endothelial cells both as understudied physiologic APCs and as a novel type of 'planar cellular APC model'.
FAQs
Researchers can label presynaptic and postsynaptic components with fluorescence microscopy, genetically encoded markers, or antibody-based markers. This separation allows measurements to be assigned to the signaling and receiving sides of a neuronal junction rather than treated as one combined structure. As a result, imaging can examine features such as synaptic vesicle release and receptor localization at specific sites.
Time-lapse imaging follows the same synaptic structures as they change, making it useful for observing spine remodeling and other structural dynamics in living cells. When imaging is related to neuronal activity, it can also reveal activity-dependent plasticity. This temporal information helps connect short-term cellular changes with longer-lasting modifications in neuronal communication.
Population-level measurements combine signals from many synapses, which can obscure differences between individual neuronal junctions. Single-site measurements preserve that variation and can link molecular or cellular events to communication at a particular synapse. This resolution supports analysis of release, receptor placement, and structural changes that may be masked when signals are averaged across a larger neuronal population.
A typical workflow begins by selecting markers for presynaptic or postsynaptic components, using genetically encoded or antibody-based labeling as appropriate. Fluorescence microscopy then visualizes the labeled structures, while time-lapse acquisition can follow changes in living cells. Researchers measure features such as vesicle release, receptor localization, or spine remodeling and relate those observations to neuronal activity.
Researchers use this approach when they need to connect synaptic structure or function with activity-dependent plasticity, a process in which neuronal activity is associated with synaptic change. Tracking receptor localization, vesicle release, or spine remodeling at individual sites can provide cellular evidence relevant to learning and memory, where changes in neuronal communication are central research concerns.
In neural circuit development, imaging can follow how synaptic structures and their components change as connections form and mature. In studies of neurological disorders, the same measurements can identify altered vesicle release, receptor localization, or spine organization. These observations help relate molecular and cellular abnormalities to changes in neuronal communication within specific synapses.