Calcium beat: internal calcium stores regulating the rhythm of spontaneous neurotransmitter release

Using conventional patch-clamp techniques, the intervals of spontaneous glycinergic synaptic events in principal cells of the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body were measured in mice. A significant periodicity of these events was demonstrated using recurrence quantification analysis. Blockade of internal calcium stores induced a more random structure of inter-event intervals suggesting that these stores are responsible for the periodicity of spontaneous synaptic events.