Synapses on the mauthner cell of the goldfish: Thin section, freeze-fracture, and immunocytochemical studies

Large myelinated club ending and small-vesicle bouton synapses on the distal part of the lateral dendrite of the goldfish Mauthner cell were investigated with thin section, freeze-fracture, and immunocytochemical electron microscopic methods. Large myelinated club endings form mixed synapses, having both gap junctions and chemical synaptic junctions. The correlation of the number of gap junction particles (connexons) and the data from electrophysiological studies of single large myelinated club ending synapses suggest that only a small fraction of gap junction channels are open at any given time during electrical synaptic transmission. The chemical synaptic junctions at the large myelinated club ending synapse have large, round synaptic vesicles, indicating that they are excitatory. This result is in agreement with electrophysiological data demonstrating the excitatory nature of this chemical synapse. Freeze-fracture of these excitatory chemical synaptic junctions reveals the presence of the intramembrane particle aggregates in the postsynaptic E face. Small-vesicle boutons form chemical synaptic junctions with small, flat or oval synaptic vesicles. These structural data, in combination with previous electrophysiological studies, suggest that the small-vesicle bouton synapses are inhibitory. In support of this theory, the cytoplasmic side of the postsynaptic membrane of some of these synapses show positive immunocytochemical reaction to monoclonal antibodies against the rat glycine receptor. Freeze-fracture data reveal intramembrane particle aggregates in the postsynaptic P face of some small-vesicle bouton synapses which could possibly represent glycine receptor aggregates.