(a) Golgi stain of individual spines (courtesy of H. Okuno). (b) Analyzing one synapse at a time.Proteins expressed in dendritic spines are highly organized and form clusters; scaffolding proteins ...

Dynamic changes in the structural characteristics of the postsynaptic membrane and, in particular, of dendritic spines have been a topic of great interest over the last decade (reviewed in refs.

For 20 years, neuroscientists — including myself — have used cutting-edge microscopy technology in living animals to observe microscopic structures called dendritic spines constantly budding ...