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Updated: Mar 21, 2026

Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond
Published on: June 24, 2015
Conditional Spike Transmission Mediated by Electrical Coupling Ensures Millisecond Precision-Correlated Activity
Ingrid van Welie1, Arnd Roth1, Sara S N Ho1
1Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of Neuroscience, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Abstract:
Many GABAergic interneurons are electrically coupled and in vitro can display correlated activity with millisecond precision. However, the mechanisms underlying correlated activity between interneurons in vivo are unknown. Using dual patch-clamp recordings in vivo, we reveal that in the presence of spontaneous background synaptic activity, electrically coupled cerebellar Golgi cells exhibit robust millisecond precision-correlated activity which is enhanced by sensory stimulation. This precisely correlated activity results from the cooperative action of two mechanisms. First, electrical coupling ensures slow subthreshold membrane potential correlations by equalizing membrane potential fluctuations, such that coupled neurons tend to approach action potential threshold together. Second, fast spike-triggered spikelets transmitted through gap junctions conditionally trigger postjunctional spikes, depending on both neurons being close to threshold. Electrical coupling therefore controls the temporal precision and degree of both spontaneous and sensory-evoked correlated activity between interneurons, by the cooperative effects of shared synaptic depolarization and spikelet transmission.
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