Nonquantal transmission at the vestibular hair cell-calyx synapse: K_LV currents modulate fast electrical and slow K⁺ potentials.

ABSTRACT: Vestibular hair cells transmit information about head position and motion across synapses to primary afferent neurons. At some of these synapses, the afferent neuron envelopes the hair cell, forming an enlarged synaptic terminal called a calyx. The vestibular hair cell-calyx synapse supports a mysterious form of electrical transmission that does not involve gap junctions, termed nonquantal transmission (NQT). The NQT mechanism is thought to involve the flow of ions from the presynaptic hair cell to the postsynaptic calyx through low-voltage-activated channels driven by changes in cleft [K⁺] as K⁺ exits the hair cell. However, this hypothesis has not been tested with a quantitative model and the possible role of an electrical potential in the cleft has remained specula

SUBMITTER: Govindaraju AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9926171 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature