{"id":193650,"date":"2026-02-04T18:21:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/?p=193650"},"modified":"2026-02-05T16:27:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:27:32","slug":"agata-nowacka-et-al-team-choquet-in-neuron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/agata-nowacka-et-al-team-choquet-in-neuron\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Choquet and collaborators in Neuron<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

When synapses adjust information transfer thanks to mobile receptors<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

How does the brain treat rapid signals without overloading? That\u2019s the question asked by CNRS and University of Bordeaux\u2019s researchers in their study published in Neuron<\/em> on February 4th 2026, in a collaboration<\/strong> with scientists at the Bordeaux Imaging Center<\/strong>, at Ottawa university, at Sussex Neuroscience and at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.<\/p>\r\n

They show that AMPA receptor\u2019s mobility on neurons\u2019 surface plays a key role in filtration and amplification of information<\/strong>. By moving through synapses, those receptors allow to maintain the transmission during rapid stimulations. This mechanism, variable depending on the synapses, links plasticity, neural calculation and learning.<\/p>\r\n

All synapses do not transfer information in the same way. Some amplify rapid signals and others diminish them. This phenomenon is called short-term synaptic plasticity and is essential for information treatment in the brain. Until now, it was mainly attributed to the regulation of release of pre-synaptic neurotransmitters.<\/p>\r\n

This study spotlights a complementary mechanism located on the post-synaptic side: AMPA receptors\u2019 mobility<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n

Thanks to a line of genetically modified mice developed in the Choquet lab, researchers followed the movement of these receptors in real time and controlled their ability to move on neurons\u2019surface. Combining advanced imaging, optical captors of synaptic activity and electrophysiological experiments, they could observe that this mobility plays a key role<\/strong> when synapses are highly stimulated.<\/p>\r\n

In standard situation, AMPA receptors can desensitize themselves temporarily after a repeated activity. Their mobility allows \u201cnew\u201d receptors to replace the inefficient ones, maintaining the transmission of the signal. When this movement is blocked, desensitized receptors stay trapped in the synapse. The transmission highly diminishes and the synapse acts as a brake.<\/p>\r\n

Therefore, this mechanism acts like a speeding and a slowdown system integrated in each synapse. The researchers observed that all synapses did not act in the same way. Depending on the architecture and molecular properties of the synapses, some were more sensitive to receptors mobility than others. Each synapse seems to have its own \u201cdynamic signature\u201d for treating information.<\/p>\r\n

Researchers also found that the forms of synaptic plasticity<\/strong> associated with learning modify this mobility, linking directly memory mechanisms to the way synapses treat instant signals.<\/p>\r\n

These results open up new paths<\/strong>. Many physiological or pathological factors – such as stress, aging, neurodegenerative diseases \u2013 influence AMPA receptors mobility. This could be of great interest<\/strong> to modulate neural networks functioning.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/h3>\r\n

\u00a9 Agata Nowacka, Angela Getz, Daniel Choquet<\/p>\r\n

Figure: <\/strong>On the left, a synaptic spine. Inactive AMPA receptors (grey) spread on the surface of the synapse (1) and are reversibly accumulated where the neurotransmitter, glutamate, is released. Receptors are activated by glutamate which is released by the presynaptic terminal (3), then desensitize (2). The exchange by diffusion of these desensitized receptors allows their replacement by new activatable receptors. Therefore, AMPA receptors’ mobility contributes to recovery from synaptic depression during repeated stimulation.
On the right, a Shapley diagram, coming from the game theory, helps estimate the respective contributions of receptors’ mobility (1), their desensitization (2) and the potential glutamate release (3) on the evolution of short-term synaptic plasticity.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

For more information<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Synapse-specific and plasticity-regulated AMPA receptor mobility tunes synaptic integration<\/a>, <\/em>Agata Nowacka<\/strong>, Angela M. Getz<\/strong>, Hanna L. Zieger<\/strong>, Maxime Malivert<\/strong>, Diogo Bessa-Neto<\/strong>, Elisabete Augusto<\/strong>, Christelle Breillat<\/strong>, Sophie Daburon<\/strong>, C\u00e9cile Lemoigne<\/strong>, S\u00e9bastien Marais<\/strong>, Mathieu Ducros<\/strong>, Alexandre Favereaux<\/strong>, Andrew C. Penn, Richard Naud, Matthieu Sainlos<\/strong>, Daniel Choquet<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Neuron, <\/em>February 4th 2026.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Contact<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Daniel Choquet<\/a>
CNRS Researcher
GPR \u00a0director \u2013 Team leader \u2013 BIC Director
Team: Dynamic organization and function of synapses<\/a>

<\/strong>daniel.choquet@u-bordeaux.fr<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When synapses adjust information transfer thanks to mobile receptors. By the team Choquet (IINS) and BIC. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":357,"featured_media":193644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,770],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-en","category-iins-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/357"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193650"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193796,"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193650\/revisions\/193796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bordeaux-neurocampus.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}