In the central nervous system (CNS), a nerve cell or neuron has a ‘forest’ of elaborate dendritic trees arising from the cell body. These literally receive many thousands of synapses (junctions that allow transmission of a signal) at positions around the tree. These inputs then are able to generate an impulse, or ‘spike’, known as an action potential at the initial part of the axon.<\/p>\n Previous research has confirmed that an activated synapse will generate an electric signal as a result of neurotransmitters released from pre-synaptic axons. Electrical recordings from the neocortex have confirmed that, in line with the cable theory prediction, that modulation of potential at the dendrite is highly distance-dependent from the cell body or soma.<\/p>\n The ‘Information processing in distal dendrites of neocortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons’ (Channelrhodopsin) project aimed to shed more light on how more distal sites in the ‘tree’ influence the action potential of the post-synaptic neuron. Furthermore, they investigated exactly how dendritic spikes can be generated, another issue about which there is little information so far.<\/p>\n Recent research has highlighted the importance of activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors to bring about the production of a signal that will proceed to the soma and then result in a spike. There is also indirect evidence that interneurons targeting dendrites can control level of dendrite excitability.<\/p>\n Channelrhodopsin scientists simultaneously recorded the pre- and post-synaptic electrical recordings of identified interneurons and a special type of neuron, pyramidal cells that are primary excitation units in the mammalian cortex.<\/p>\n The project team first characterised the different types of inhibitory neuron deep in the cortex in layer 5 at apical tuft dendrites. The researchers then showed that a special type of inhibitory interneuron in the outer layer of the neocortex can suppress dendritic spiking in layer 5.<\/p>\n Project results show that a superficial inhibitory neuron can impact information processing in a specific pyramidal neuron<\/strong>. The research will have massive implications for neuroscience and help to unravel the integrative operations of CNS neurons<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the CORDIS press release via MedicalXpress: Whether or not a neuron transmits an electrical impulse is a function of many factors. European research is using a heady mixture of techniques \u2013 molecular, microscopy and electrophysiological \u2013 to identify the necessary input for nerve transmission in the cortex. In the central nervous system (CNS), a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-3803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-neuroscience","tag-brain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3803"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3839,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803\/revisions\/3839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Brain2.jpg\" "\\"brain\\"")
Whether or not a neuron transmits an electrical impulse is a function of many factors<\/strong>. European research is using a heady mixture of techniques \u2013 molecular, microscopy and electrophysiological \u2013 to identify the necessary input for nerve transmission in the cortex.<\/strong><\/p>\n