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Related Concept Videos

Excitatory and Inhibitory Effects of Neurotransmitters01:29

Excitatory and Inhibitory Effects of Neurotransmitters

When an action potential reaches the presynaptic axon terminal, it releases neurotransmitters from the neuron into the synaptic cleft at a chemical synapse. The released neurotransmitter can be excitatory or inhibitory. The critical criteria commonly used to determine whether a molecule is a neurotransmitter at a chemical synapse are the molecule's presence in the presynaptic neuron. Second, its release is in response to strong presynaptic depolarization. And lastly, the presence of specific...
The Role of Ion Channels in Neuronal Computation01:19

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.
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism01:30

Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism

Ligand-gated ion channels are transmembrane proteins that play a vital role in intercellular communication and functions of the nervous system. They allow the influx of ions across the membrane once the neurotransmitter binds, allowing the subsequent transmission of electrical excitation across the neurons. Other ligand-gated ion channels, like the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor, permit anions like chloride into the cells on the binding of the GABA molecule. Their entry into the cell...
Chemical Synapses01:26

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 Synapses01:26

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...
Integration of Synaptic Events01:28

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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 7, 2026

Evaluation of Synaptic Multiplicity Using Whole-cell Patch-clamp Electrophysiology
10:52

Evaluation of Synaptic Multiplicity Using Whole-cell Patch-clamp Electrophysiology

Published on: April 23, 2019

Balanced excitatory and inhibitory synaptic currents promote efficient coding and metabolic efficiency.

Biswa Sengupta1, Simon B Laughlin, Jeremy E Niven

  • 1Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom ; Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.

Plos Computational Biology
|October 8, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Balanced synaptic currents in cortical neurons generate fewer, more informative spikes. This optimizes both information coding and energy efficiency, crucial for neural processing.

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Induction of an Isoelectric Brain State to Investigate the Impact of Endogenous Synaptic Activity on Neuronal Excitability In Vivo
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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Computational Neuroscience

Background:

  • Balanced excitatory and inhibitory synaptic currents are crucial for cortical neuron function.
  • Their precise role in coding and energy efficiency remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the advantages of balanced synaptic currents in cortical neurons.
  • To compare coding and energy efficiency across different synaptic input regimes.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized single-compartment computational models.
  • Simulated stochastic voltage-gated ion channels.
  • Compared excitatory-only, equal excitatory/inhibitory, and balanced synaptic input models.

Main Results:

  • Balanced synaptic currents produced fewer spikes per second.
  • Spikes from balanced currents were more informative (bits/spike).
  • Information rates (bits/s) were similar across regimes, but energy efficiency was higher with balanced currents.

Conclusions:

  • Approximately balanced synaptic currents enhance coding efficiency by increasing spike informativeness.
  • Balanced synaptic currents improve energy efficiency by reducing spike generation.
  • This balance is vital for optimizing neural information processing and minimizing energy expenditure.