TY  - JOUR
AU  - Müller, J.
AU  - Reyes-Haro, D.
AU  - Rivneva, T.
AU  - Nolte, C.
AU  - Schaette, R.
AU  - Lübke, J.H.R.
AU  - Kettenmann, H.
TI  - The principal neurons of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body and NG2+ glial cells receive coordinated excitatory synaptic input.
JO  - The journal of general physiology
VL  - 134
SN  - 0022-1295
CY  - New York, NY
PB  - Rockefeller Univ. Press
M1  - PreJuSER-5449
SP  - 115 - 127
PY  - 2009
N1  - We thank R. Juttner for discussions and comments on the manuscript and for sharing chemicals, K. Karram and J. Trotter for providing antibodies, and R. Krober for technical assistance.This study was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SPP 1172).
AB  - Glial cell processes are part of the synaptic structure and sense spillover of transmitter, while some glial cells can even receive direct synaptic input. Here, we report that a defined type of glial cell in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) receives excitatory glutamatergic synaptic input from the calyx of Held (CoH). This giant glutamatergic terminal forms an axosomatic synapse with a single principal neuron located in the MNTB. The NG2 glia, as postsynaptic principal neurons, establish synapse-like structures with the CoH terminal. In contrast to the principal neurons, which are known to receive excitatory as well as inhibitory inputs, the NG2 glia receive mostly, if not exclusively, alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazole-4-propionic acid receptor-mediated evoked and spontaneous synaptic input. Simultaneous recordings from neurons and NG2 glia indicate that they partially receive synchronized spontaneous input. This shows that an NG2(+) glial cell and a postsynaptic neuron share presynaptic terminals.
KW  - Animals
KW  - Astrocytes: metabolism
KW  - Auditory Pathways: physiology
KW  - Brain Stem: cytology
KW  - Brain Stem: physiology
KW  - Green Fluorescent Proteins: genetics
KW  - Green Fluorescent Proteins: metabolism
KW  - Immunohistochemistry
KW  - Mice
KW  - Mice, Transgenic
KW  - Microscopy, Electron
KW  - Neuroglia: metabolism
KW  - Neurons: metabolism
KW  - Receptors, AMPA: metabolism
KW  - Signal Transduction
KW  - Synaptic Transmission: physiology
KW  - Receptors, AMPA (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Green Fluorescent Proteins (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - J (WoSType)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:19635853
C2  - pmc:PMC2717692
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000268367600003
DO  - DOI:10.1085/jgp.200910194
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/5449
ER  -