Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2026

P50 Sensory Gating in Infants
Published on: December 26, 2013
Sensory gating and its modulation by cannabinoids: electrophysiological, computational and mathematical analysis
Margarita Zachariou1, Dilshani W N Dissanayake, Stephen Coombes
1School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK, pmxmz@nottingham.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Gating of sensory information can be assessed using an auditory conditioning-test paradigm which measures the reduction in the auditory evoked response to a test stimulus following an initial conditioning stimulus. Recording brainwaves from specific areas of the brain using multiple electrodes is helpful in the study of the neurobiology of sensory gating. In this paper, we use such technology to investigate the role of cannabinoids in sensory gating in the CA3 region of the rat hippocampus. Our experimental results show that application of the exogenous cannabinoid agonist WIN55,212-2 can abolish sensory gating. We have developed a phenomenological model of cannabinoid dynamics incorporated within a spiking neural network model of CA3 with synaptically interacting pyramidal and basket cells. Direct numerical simulations of this model suggest that the basic mechanism for this effect can be traced to the suppression of inhibition of slow GABA(B) synapses. Furthermore, by working with a simpler mathematical firing rate model we are able to show the robustness of this mechanism for the abolition of sensory gating.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism
Ligand-gated Ion Channels
Three Subfamilies of Ligand-gated Ion Channels
Ligand-gated ion channels fall into three subfamilies. The 'Cys-loop' includes the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glycine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors. The second one is the 'Pore-loop' channels that include the...
Mechanically-gated Ion Channels
The Role of Ion Channels in Neuronal Computation
Sometimes a single EPSP is strong enough to induce an action potential in the postsynaptic neuron. However, multiple presynaptic inputs must often create EPSPs around the same time for the postsynaptic neuron to be sufficiently depolarized to fire an action potential.
G-Protein Gated Ion Channels
Sensory organs,...
Postsynaptic Potential (PSP)
There are two types of receptors: ionotropic and metabotropic.
The ionotropic receptor is the membrane protein that has an...

