Dendritic spikes mediate negative synaptic gain control in cerebellar Purkinje cells.

ABSTRACT: Dendritic spikes appear to be a ubiquitous feature of dendritic excitability. In cortical pyramidal neurons, dendritic spikes increase the efficacy of distal synapses, providing additional inward current to enhance axonal action potential (AP) output, thus increasing synaptic gain. In cerebellar Purkinje cells, dendritic spikes can trigger synaptic plasticity, but their influence on axonal output is not well understood. We have used simultaneous somatic and dendritic patch-clamp recordings to directly assess the impact of dendritic calcium spikes on axonal AP output of Purkinje cells. Dendritic spikes evoked by parallel fiber input triggered brief bursts of somatic APs, followed by pauses in spiking, which cancelled out the extra spikes in the burst. As a result, average output firing rate

SUBMITTER: Rancz EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3009819 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature