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Neuronal Communication

Neuronal Communication

Neurons, the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system, communicate through complex electrochemical signals that underpin all cognitive and bodily functions. This communication is primarily facilitated by a process involving the generation and propagation of an action potential along the axon of the neuron. When the internal electrical charge of a neuron surpasses a certain threshold, an action potential is triggered. This rapid change in voltage travels swiftly along the axon to the...

The Role of Ion Channels in Neuronal Computation

The Role of Ion Channels in Neuronal Computation

A postsynaptic neuron usually receives numerous impulses from several other presynaptic neurons. The axon hillock of the postsynaptic neuron integrates all these signals and determines the likelihood of firing an action potential.
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.

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.

Neural Circuits

Neural Circuits

Neural circuits and neuronal pools are two of the main structures found in the nervous system. Neural circuits are networks of neurons that work together to carry out a specific task or process. They consist of interconnected neurons and glial cells, which provide structural and metabolic support.
Neuronal pools are collections of nerve cells with similar functions and interact through chemical and electrical signals. These pools include both interneurons (the central neural circuit nodes 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.
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.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Electrophysiological and Morphological Characterization of Neuronal Microcircuits in Acute Brain Slices Using Paired Patch-Clamp Recordings

Electrophysiological and Morphological Characterization of Neuronal Microcircuits in Acute Brain Slices Using Paired Patch-Clamp Recordings

Published on: January 10, 2015

Ephaptic coupling of cortical neurons.

Costas A Anastassiou¹, Rodrigo Perin, Henry Markram

¹Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA. costas@caltech.edu

Nature Neuroscience

|January 18, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Brain activity generates electrical fields that influence neuron function through ephaptic coupling. These fields can entrain action potentials, suggesting a causal role in neural processing.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Electrophysiology

Background:

Neural function relies on electrochemical processes generating spatiotemporal field fluctuations.
Ephaptic coupling, independent of synapses, describes how extracellular fields influence neuronal membrane potential.
The physiological impact of ephaptic coupling on neuronal function is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the extent of ephaptic coupling's influence on neuronal function under physiological conditions.
To determine if endogenous brain activity causally affects neural function via field effects.

Main Methods:

Stimulation and recording from rat cortical pyramidal neurons in slices using a 12-electrode setup.
Simultaneous multi-neuron recordings (up to four patched neurons) in close proximity.

Main Results:

Extracellular fields induced subthreshold somatic membrane potential changes <0.5 mV.
Despite small amplitude, these fields strongly entrained action potentials, especially with slow (<8 Hz) field fluctuations.
Evidence suggests endogenous brain activity can causally impact neural function through field effects.

Conclusions:

Ephaptic coupling plays a role in neural processing by influencing action potential timing.
Non-synaptic electrical field effects contribute to neural communication and computation in the brain.