End :) As always, feel free to contact me If you want to discuss or share some insights, which I would love to do here on the #volumeEM @volumeem1.bsky.social community. Here you have the DOI again: doi.org/10.1523/JNEU...

These synapses present synaptic vesicles, yet they appear ultratructurally immature, suggesting a role in plasticity events. Moreover, these numbers are probably impactful in cortical circuitry computational models

A truly remarkable finding in our datasets is how common synapses located in non-varicose domains of the axon are, reaching up to 23% of the total synapses. These have not been reported in other huge EM datasets, possibly being overlooked by semi-automatic segmentation tools

This study analyzed for the first time the spatial distribution of neurotransmitter vesicles on the terminals. Our findings suggest a possible explanation to the disproportionate impact of thalamic signals on sensory cortical activity

However, when we compared data between areas S1 and S2 the only differentiating factor was the volume of the terminal, with S2 terminals being substantially smaller. As other authors have suggested, terminal volume might not be a functionally relevant trait

To our surprise, layer 4 of area S2 inputs displayed statistically equal ultrastructural features like synapsic surface or number despite arising from different thalamic nuclei, a first order one like VPM and a higher order one like Po

Accurate quantitative data on the structure of thalamocortical synapses is essential in these models, but such data can only be obtained using cutting-edge three-dimensional electron microscopy techniques as used here

Thalamocortical synapses are the entry point for sensory signals into the cerebral cortex. These synapses are a central node in biophysical and computational models of the circuits that enable sensory perception and learning

In our study we combined the selective labeling of thalamocortical axon populations from VPM and Po with volume EM #volumeEM to study a mostly unexplored area in the cerebral cortex, area S2

First things first, without @uam.es and @fz-juelich.de our study “Pathway-specific ultrastructure of thalamocortical synapses in mouse somatosensory area S2” would not have been possible