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WORKSHOP ON:
CENTRAL PROBLEMS IN SINGLE CELL COMPUTATION
16-18 September 2002
By invitation only
Venue
B10 Seminar Room, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR
Role of synapse location
in the control of neuronal output |
Greg Stuart,
University of Freiburg, Germany |
How effective are synaptic inputs
made at different dendritic locations?Passive cable theory suggests that synaptic inputs
located at distal dendritic locations will have less influence on neuronal output. But is
this the case? Recent technical advances have allowed direct observation of the amplitude
and time course of synaptic inputs generated at defined dendritic sites. In neocortical,
but not hippocampal, pyramidal neurons the somatic amplitude of EPSPs is dependent on the
dendritic site of generation, whereas in both cell types somatic EPSP time course is
relatively independent of synapse location. These observations suggest that under certain
conditions central neurons operate primarily as temporal integrators, irrespective of the
site of synaptic input, whereas at other times they compartmentalize synaptic integration,
allowing distal inputs to be integrated in a manner consistent with coincidence detection. |
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