Nanoscale analysis of functionally diverse glutamatergic synapses in the neocortex reveals input and layer-specific organization

Discovery of synaptic nanostructures suggests a molecular logic for the flexibility of synaptic function. We still have little understanding of how functionally diverse synapses in the brain organize their nanoarchitecture due to challenges associated with super-resolution imaging in complex brain tissue. Here, we characterized single-domain camelid nanobodies for the 3D quantitative multiplex imaging of synaptic nano-organization in 6 µm brain cryosections using STED nanoscopy. We focused on thalamocortical (TC) and corticocortical (CC) synapses along the apical-basal axis of layer 5 pyramidal neurons as models of functionally diverse glutamatergic synapses in the brain. Spines receiving TC input were larger than CC spines in all layers examined. However, TC synapses on apical and basal dendrites conformed to different organizational principles. TC afferents on apical dendrites frequently contacted spines with multiple aligned PSD-95/Bassoon nanomodules, which are larger. TC spines on basal dendrites contained mostly one aligned PSD-95/Bassoon nanocluster. However, PSD-95 nanoclusters were larger and scaled with spine volume. The nano-organization of CC synapses did not change across cortical layers. These results highlight striking nanoscale diversity of functionally distinct glutamatergic synapses, relying on afferent input and sub-cellular localization of individual synaptic connections.