Spike transmission failures in axons from mouse cortical pyramidal neurons in vivo.

ABSTRACT: The propagation of action potentials along axons is traditionally considered to be reliable, as a consequence of the high safety factor of action potential propagation. However, numerical simulations have suggested that, at high frequencies, spikes could fail to invade distal axonal branches. Given the complex morphologies of axonal trees, with extensive branching and long-distance projections, spike propagation failures could be functionally important. To explore this experimentally in vivo, we used an axonal-targeted calcium indicator to image action potentials at axonal terminal branches in superficial layers from mouse somatosensory cortical pyramidal neurons. We activated axons with an extracellular electrode, varying stimulation frequencies, and computationally extracted axona

SUBMITTER: Ofer N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10862735 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature