Action potential initiation and backpropagation in neurons of the mammalian CNS

摘要: Most neurons in the mammalian CNS encode and transmit information via action potentials. Knowledge of where these electrical events are initiated how they propagate within is therefore fundamental to an understanding neuronal function. While work from 1950s suggested that potentials axon, many subsequent investigations have can also be dendrites. Recently, experiments using simultaneous patch-pipette recordings different locations on same neuron been used address this issue directly. These studies show site potential initiation even when synaptic activation powerful enough elicit dendritic electrogenesis. Furthermore, other following initiation, actively backpropagate into dendrites types, providing a retrograde signal output tree.