In the brain, the strength of each individual synapse is defined by the complement of proteins present or the "local proteome." Activity-dependent changes in synaptic strength are the result of changes in this local proteome and posttranslational protein modifications. Although most synaptic proteins have been identified, we still know little about protein copy numbers in individual synapses and variations between synapses. We use DNA-point accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography as a single-molecule super-resolution imaging technique to visualize and quantify protein copy numbers in single synapses. The imaging technique provides near-molecular spatial resolution, is unaffected by photobleaching, enables imaging of large field of views, and provides quantitative molecular information. We demonstrate these benefits by accessing copy numbers of surface AMPA-type receptors at single synapses of rat hippocampal neurons along dendritic segments.

中文翻译：

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超分辨率成像和单个突触中蛋白质拷贝数的估计，并具有用于在纳米级地形中成像的DNA点累积。

在大脑中，每个单独突触的强度由存在的蛋白质或“局部蛋白质组”的互补定义。突触强度的活动依赖性变化是该局部蛋白质组变化和翻译后蛋白质修饰的结果。尽管已鉴定出大多数突触蛋白，但对于单个突触中的蛋白拷贝数以及突触之间的变异，我们仍然知之甚少。我们使用DNA点累积在纳米尺度地形成像中作为单分子超分辨率成像技术来可视化和量化单个突触中的蛋白质拷贝数。成像技术可提供近分子的空间分辨率，不受光漂白的影响，可对大视野成像，并提供定量的分子信息。