Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 325, Issue 5946, Pages 1405-1408Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1174331
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Funding
- Max Planck Society
- Hertie Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [AL 1193/2-1]
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/C010841/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Action potentials in nonmyelinated axons are considered to contribute substantially to activity-dependent brain metabolism. Here we show that fast Na+ current decay and delayed K+ current onset during action potentials in nonmyelinated mossy fibers of the rat hippocampus minimize the overlap of their respective ion fluxes. This results in total Na+ influx and associated energy demand per action potential of only 1.3 times the theoretical minimum, in contrast to the factor of 4 used in previous energy budget calculations for neural activity. Analysis of ionic conductance parameters revealed that the properties of Na+ and K+ channels are matched to make axonal action potentials energy-efficient, minimizing their contribution to activity-dependent metabolism.
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