Gi proteins inhibit voltage-gated calcium channels and activate inwardly rectifying K+ channels in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. The effect of activation of G-protein-coupled receptors on action potential-evoked calcium influx was examined in pyramidal neuron dendrites with optical and extracellular voltage recording. We tested the hypotheses that 1) activation of these receptors would inhibit...

Whether morphology tailors functional properties of pyramidal neurons is not completely understood. In this issue of Neuron, Thome et al. (2014) show that, in hippocampal pyramidal neurons, axons frequently originate from basal dendrites rather than the soma, constituting a "privileged" channel for synaptic inputs located in these axon-carrying dendrites.

The pyramidal neuron is the principal cell type in the mammalian forebrain, but its function remains poorly understood. Using a detailed compartmental model of a hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell, we recorded responses to complex stimuli consisting of dozens of high-frequency activated synapses distributed throughout the apical dendrites. We found the cell's firing rate could be predicted by a sim...

Hippocampal theta (3-8 Hz) is a major electrophysiological activity in rodents, which can be found in primates and humans as well. During theta activity, pyramidal cells and different classes of interneurons were shown to discharge at different phases of the extracellular theta. A recent in vitro study has shown that theta-frequency oscillation can be elicited in a hippocampal CA1 slice by the ...

The connections between excitatory and inhibitory synapses are significant for generation of busting activity in a pyramidal neuron model. We have suggested in previous studies that a reduced neuronal model of synaptically connected neurons could produce repetitive bursting activity. We have also suggested that the modification of the balance between inhibition and excitation by synaptic weight...

Parvalbumin (PV)-containing cortical GABA neurons include chandelier cells (PVChCs) and basket cells (PVBCs), which innervate the axon initial segment (AIS) and soma/proximal dendrites of pyramidal cells, respectively. In monkey prefrontal cortex (PFC), the density of PVChC axon cartridges detectable by PV immunoreactivity peaks prior to the onset of puberty before declining markedly to adult l...

One well established phenomenon in the CNS is every action potentials does not trigger neurotransmitter release from a single presynaptic terminal. Observations in hippocampal slice and from two photon calcium imaging in vivo suggest that probability of release at a single excitatory synapse is significantly less than .5. We wanted to examine the impact of the probability of release and varianc...