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Quantitative Molecular Map of the Neuronal Surface

Final Report Summary - MOLECMAP (Quantitative Molecular Map of the Neuronal Surface)

The major aim of the project 'MolecMap' was to provide a quantitative molecular map of the neuronal surface. A key feature of nerve cells when compared to other cells of our body is that they contain a large repertoire of ion conducting channels; their presence in the plasma membranes endows electrical excitability to nerve cells. The extent to which nerve cells are excitable does not only depend on the expressed ion channel subtypes, but their densities in distinct axo-somato-dendritic compartments also play a critical role. Our proposal aimed at providing a density map of voltage-gated ion channels in 19 well-defined subcellular compartments of rodent hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells. Quantitative, high-resolution localization of nine ion channel subtypes revealed that every ion channel type has a unique subcellular distribution pattern. Our results also demonstrated that each subcellular compartment of the examined CA1 pyramidal cells (e.g. presynaptic active zones, axon terminals, axon initial segment, soma, proximal, distal dendrites, dendritic spines) has its own, unique ion channels repertoire. The functional consequences of this extraordinary diversity in the ion channel content of different subcellular compartments are investigated in our laboratory using a combined computational, in vitro patch-clamp electrophysiological and voltage imaging approaches.