Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Computational study of an excitable dendritic spine.

I Segev¹, W Rall

¹Department of Neurobiology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Journal of Neurophysiology

|August 1, 1988

Summary

Excitable dendritic spines amplify synaptic inputs, with optimal amplification occurring within a specific resistance range. This arrangement efficiently enhances neuronal signaling by concentrating electrical excitability in the spine head.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

An a. c. operated mass spectrograph of the Mattauch type.

The Review of scientific instruments·2010

Same author

Dynamic and spatial features of the inhibitory pallidal GABAergic synapses.

Neuroscience·2005

Same author

Synaptic scaling in vitro and in vivo.

Nature neuroscience·2001

Same author

The role of single neurons in information processing.

Nature neuroscience·2000

Same author

Untangling dendrites with quantitative models.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2000

Same author

Subthreshold voltage noise due to channel fluctuations in active neuronal membranes.

Journal of computational neuroscience·2000

Area of Science:

Computational neuroscience
Electrophysiology
Neuronal modeling

Background:

Dendritic spines are crucial for synaptic integration and plasticity.
The electrical properties of dendritic spines, particularly their excitability, are key to understanding neuronal computation.
Previous models have explored passive spine properties, but the role of active, excitable membranes in spine heads requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To model the electrical behavior of a dendritic spine with an excitable spine head membrane.
To investigate the conditions that elicit action potentials in the spine head.
To determine how spine and dendritic properties influence synaptic signal amplification.

Main Methods:

A compartmental model incorporating Hodgkin-Huxley equations for excitable spine heads and passive membranes for spine stems and dendritic shafts.
Synaptic input modeled as a transient alpha-function conductance.
Analysis of threshold conditions for action potential generation and excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) amplification.

Main Results:

Spike threshold at the spine head is sensitive to membrane properties and conductance loading from the spine stem and dendrite.
Optimal spine stem resistance (RSS) values were identified for maximal amplification of dendritic EPSPs, ranging from 2 to 13 times compared to passive spines.
Nonlinear sensitivity of EPSP amplitude to RSS was observed, with deviations from the optimum leading to significant changes in signal transmission.

Conclusions:

Excitable dendritic spines offer an efficient mechanism for amplifying synaptic signals with a limited number of ion channels.
The spine head's excitability and the spine stem's resistance critically regulate synaptic integration and signal propagation.
This study highlights the functional significance of active dendritic spines in neuronal information processing.

Related Experiment Videos