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NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 10, Issue 2, Pages 206-214Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nn1826
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Basal dendrites receive the majority of synapses that contact neocortical pyramidal neurons, yet our knowledge of synaptic processing in these dendrites has been hampered by their inaccessibility for electrical recordings. A new approach to patch-clamp recordings enabled us to characterize the integrative properties of these cells. Despite the short physical length of rat basal dendrites, synaptic inputs were electrotonically remote from the soma ( > 30- fold excitatory postsynaptic potential ( EPSP) attenuation) and back- propagating action potentials were significantly attenuated. Unitary EPSPs were location dependent, reaching large amplitudes distally ( > 8 mV), yet their somatic contribution was relatively location independent. Basal dendrites support sodium and NMDA spikes, but not calcium spikes, for 75% of their length. This suggests that basal dendrites, despite their proximity to the site of action potential initiation, do not form a single basal- somatic region but rather should be considered as a separate integrative compartment favoring two integration modes: subthreshold, location- independent summation versus local amplification of incoming spatiotemporally clustered information.
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