Journal
CELL AND TISSUE RESEARCH
Volume 326, Issue 2, Pages 369-377Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00441-006-0263-8
Keywords
dendritic spikes; synaptic plasticity; LTD; LTP
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Whereas the regenerative nature of action potential conduction in axons has been known since the late 1940s, neuronal dendrites have been considered as passive cables transferring incoming synaptic activity to the soma. The relatively recent discovery that neuronal dendrites contain active conductances has revolutionized our view of information processing in neurons. In many neuronal cell types, sodium action potentials initiated at the axon initial segment can back-propagate actively into the dendrite thereby serving, for the dendrite, as an indicator of the output activity of the neuron. In addition, the dendrites themselves can initiate action-potential-like regenerative responses, so-called dendritic spikes, that are mediated either by the activation of sodium, calcium, and/or N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor channels. Here, we review the recent experimental and theoretical evidence for a role of regenerative dendritic activity in information processing within neurons and, especially, in activity-dependent synaptic plasticity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available