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Integration of Synaptic Events

Integration of Synaptic Events

Synaptic integration mainly includes the summation of graded potentials. Graded potentials, regardless of their type, cause subtle alterations in membrane voltage, resulting in either depolarization or hyperpolarization. These incremental changes, when combined or summed, can propel the neuron toward its threshold. Consider, for example, a membrane experiencing a +15 mV shift, causing it to depolarize from -70 mV to -55 mV. In this scenario, graded potentials govern the membrane's ability to...

Synaptic Signaling

Synaptic Signaling

Neurons communicate at synapses, or junctions, to excite or inhibit the activity of other neurons or target cells, such as muscles. Synapses may be chemical or electrical.
Most synapses are chemical, meaning an electrical impulse or action potential spurs the release of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. The neuron sending the signal is called the presynaptic neuron, and the neuron receiving the signal is the postsynaptic neuron.
The presynaptic neuron fires an action potential that...

Synaptic Signaling

Synaptic Signaling

Neurons communicate at synapses, or junctions, to excite or inhibit the activity of other neurons or target cells, such as muscles. Synapses may be chemical or electrical.

The Synapse

The Synapse

Neurons communicate with one another by passing on their electrical signals to other neurons. A synapse is the location where two neurons meet to exchange signals. At the synapse, the neuron that sends the signal is called the presynaptic cell, while the neuron that receives the message is called the postsynaptic cell. Note that most neurons can be both presynaptic and postsynaptic, as they both transmit and receive information.

Chemical Synapses

Chemical Synapses

Chemical synapses are specialized sites between two neurons or between a neuron and a non-neuronal cell like a muscle, glandular or sensory cell.
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...

Chemical Synapses

Chemical Synapses

Chemical synapses are specialized sites between two neurons or between a neuron and a non-neuronal cell like a muscle, glandular or sensory cell.
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Electrophysiological Investigations of Retinogeniculate and Corticogeniculate Synapse Function

Electrophysiological Investigations of Retinogeniculate and Corticogeniculate Synapse Function

Published on: August 7, 2019

Synaptic filtering of rate-coded information.

Matthias Merkel¹, Benjamin Lindner

¹Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany.

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|May 21, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Synaptic short-term plasticity (STP) influences information transfer by modulating spike amplitudes. This study reveals STP enables broadband information transmission, though noise can introduce frequency-dependent filtering.

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Published on: March 31, 2016

Area of Science:

Computational Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Information Theory

Background:

Synaptic short-term plasticity (STP) dynamically alters synaptic efficacy based on recent activity.
Understanding STP's role in neural information processing is crucial for deciphering brain function.

Purpose of the Study:

To analytically investigate how synaptic short-term plasticity affects the transmission of rate-coded information.
To quantify the spectral properties of postsynaptic activity influenced by STP.

Main Methods:

Developed a novel analytical method to compute spectral statistics of amplitude-modulated spike trains.
Derived approximations for power spectra, cross-spectra, and coherence functions.
Utilized numerical simulations to validate analytical findings.

Main Results:

Synaptic short-term plasticity leads to broadband information transmission, largely independent of frequency for single synapses.
Information transmission becomes even broader with a larger number of synapses.
Added noise introduces frequency-dependent filtering, altering information transmission characteristics.

Conclusions:

Synaptic short-term plasticity is a key mechanism for efficient, wide-frequency range information transfer in neural circuits.
The interplay between STP and noise determines the filtering properties of neural information transmission.