RT Journal
A1 Thomas, Riya Elizabeth
A1 Mudlaff, Franziska
A1 Schweers, Kyra
A1 Farmer, William Todd
A1 Suvrathan, Aparna
T1 Heterogeneity in Slow Synaptic Transmission Diversifies Purkinje Cell Timing
JF The Journal of Neuroscience 
JO The Journal of Neuroscience 
YR 2024 
FD September 11 
VO 44 
IS 37 
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0455-24.2024 
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/44/37/e0455242024.abstract 
AB The cerebellum plays an important role in diverse brain functions, ranging from motor learning to cognition. Recent studies have suggested that molecular and cellular heterogeneity within cerebellar lobules contributes to functional differences across the cerebellum. However, the specific relationship between molecular and cellular heterogeneity and diverse functional outputs of different regions of the cerebellum remains unclear. Here, we describe a previously unappreciated form of synaptic heterogeneity at parallel fiber synapses to Purkinje cells in the mouse cerebellum (both sexes). In contrast to uniform fast synaptic transmission, we found that the properties of slow synaptic transmission varied by up to threefold across different lobules of the mouse cerebellum, resulting in surprising heterogeneity. Depending on the location of a Purkinje cell, the time of peak of slow synaptic currents varied by hundreds of milliseconds. The duration and decay time of these currents also spanned hundreds of milliseconds, based on lobule. We found that, as a consequence of the heterogeneous synaptic dynamics, the same brief input stimulus was transformed into prolonged firing patterns over a range of timescales that depended on Purkinje cell location.