Using Electrophysiology to Study Homeostatic Plasticity at the Drosophila Neuromuscular Junction

Tingting Wang; C Andrew Frank

doi:10.1101/pdb.top108393

Using Electrophysiology to Study Homeostatic Plasticity at the Drosophila Neuromuscular Junction

Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2024 Apr 30. doi: 10.1101/pdb.top108393. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Tingting Wang¹, C Andrew Frank²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C. 20007, USA.
² Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA andy-frank@uiowa.edu.

PMID: 38688539
DOI: 10.1101/pdb.top108393

Abstract

The Drosophila melanogaster neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a superb system for studying synapse function. Beyond that, the NMJ is also great for studying forms of synaptic plasticity. Over the last 25 years, Drosophila NMJ neuroscientists have pioneered understanding of a form of plasticity called homeostatic synaptic plasticity, which imparts functional stability on synaptic connections. The reason is straightforward: The NMJ has a robust capacity for stability. Moreover, many strategies that the NMJ uses to maintain appropriate levels of function are mirrored at other metazoan synapses. Here, we introduce core approaches that neurophysiologists use to study homeostatic synaptic plasticity at the peripheral Drosophila NMJ. We focus on methods to study a specific form of homeostatic plasticity termed presynaptic homeostatic potentiation (PHP), which is the most well-characterized one. Other forms such as presynaptic homeostatic depression and developmental forms of homeostasis are briefly discussed. Finally, we share lists of several dozen factors and conditions known to influence the execution of PHP.