diff --git a/brian/synapses/synapses.py b/brian/synapses/synapses.py
index 23e19e8b..a08d6026 100644
--- a/brian/synapses/synapses.py
+++ b/brian/synapses/synapses.py
@@ -985,21 +985,18 @@ def synapse_index(self,i):
                 raise NotImplementedError, "The first two coordinates must be integers"
         return i
     
-    def save_connectivity(self, fn):
+    def save_connectivity(self, fn, synaptic_vars=[]):
         '''
         Saves the connectivity matrices and delays to a file ``fn``, so that they can be reloaded afterwards. 
         
-        Notice that this only saves the connectivity, not the current state of the variables in the Synapses class. In fact, it is completely decoupled from the pre/post synaptic groups, and the models of the Synapses object.
+	Additionally, the states of a list of synaptic variables (identified by their name as string) provided in ``synaptic_vars`` is saved to the file and automatically restored upon a subsequent loading operation. 
         
-        *Example*: Say we want to save the connectivity of Synapses, and some other state of the network, say ``my_state``. We would simply do::
+        *Example*: Say we want to save the connectivity of Synapses along with their weights stored in a synaptic variable ``w``. We would simply do::
         
-
-            array_to_save = synapses.my_state[:,:]
-            synapses.save_connectivity('./somefile')
+            synapses.save_connectivity('./somefile',['w'])
             ...
             new_synapses = Synapses(newgroup0, newgroup0, model = newmodel, pre = newpre, ...)
-            new_synapses.load_connectivity('./somefile')
-            new_synapses.my_state[:,:] = array_that_was_saved_and_then_reloaded
+            new_synapses.load_connectivity('./somefile') # has w assigned already
         
         Note: You have to deal with dynamical delays as you would with any other variable.
         '''
@@ -1017,8 +1014,8 @@ def save_connectivity(self, fn):
             '_delay_pre' : self._delay_pre,
             '_delay_post' : self._delay_post
         }
-        
 
+        savez_args.update({ key: self.__getattr__(key)[:,:] for key in custom_vars if not key in self.__dict__})
         np.savez(f, **savez_args)
         return 1
 
@@ -1038,6 +1035,11 @@ def load_connectivity(self, fn):
         self._delay_pre = data['_delay_pre']
         self._delay_post = data['_delay_post']
 
+        for key in data.iterkeys():
+            if key in ['presynaptic','postsynaptic','_delay_pre', '_delay_post']:
+                continue
+            self.__setattr__(key,data[key])
+
     def __repr__(self):
         return 'Synapses object with '+ str(len(self))+ ' synapses'