Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Thousands of dendritic spines on individual neurons process information and mediate plasticity by generating electrical input signals using a sophisticated assembly of transmitter receptors and voltage-sensitive ion channel molecules. Our understanding, however, of the electrical behaviour of spines is limited because it has not been possible to record input signals from these structures with adequate sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution. Current interpretation of indirect data and speculations based on theoretical considerations are inconclusive. Here we use an electrochromic voltage-sensitive dye which acts as a transmembrane optical voltmeter with a linear scale to directly monitor electrical signals from individual spines on thin basal dendrites. The results show that synapses on these spines are not electrically isolated by the spine neck to a significant extent. Electrically, they behave as if they are located directly on dendrites.
Source: Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9436
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Funders: National Science Foundation, Yale University, University of Connecticut Health Center, European Commission, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, FP7 Information and Communication Technologies
Awards: Electrical role of dendritic spines, Voltage-sensitive dye imaging from the nervous system, SenseLab: Integration of Multidisciplinary Sensory Data, Dendritic Integration in Single Vertebrate Neurons, Fast two-photon in vivo imaging and stimulation with simultaneous three-dimensional random-access scanning in multiple brain regions, Dendritic Signal Integration Underlying Plasticity, Computer Methods for Physiological Problems
OpenAlex ID: W2238721744