How many receptors are on a typical dendrite in the thalamus?

Question

In people with bipolar complex ,there are between 31 and 42 percent more receptors in the thalamus. How many receptors are on the typical dentrite in the thalamus?

Answer 1

I think there is 5

Answer 2

As a neuroscientist who has worked in the thalamus, I can tell you categorically that that question does not make sense.

Firstly, I strongly doubt that any paper will have said that there are 31% more RECEPTORS in general in the thalamus of bipolar sufferers. They will have qualified this with a type of receptor, i.e. 31% more NMDA receptors, or 31% more serotonin 5-HT2A receptors etc...

Secondly, the thalamus is not a homogeneous lump; the different nuclei have vastly different properties. They're neurons are different sizes, project to different regions and respond to neurotransmitters in different ways.

Finally, it is very rare for a scientific study to quantify the physical number of receptors. Generally it's given as some kind of density of receptors.

The answer is very hard to guess, but I would suspect an average neuron might have between 1000, and 10,000 synapses, each with hundreds of synapses, the number might be somewhere between 100,000 and up.