TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond plasticity
T2 - the dynamic impact of electrical synapses on neural circuits
AU - Alcamí, Pepe
AU - Pereda, Alberto E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2019/5/1
Y1 - 2019/5/1
N2 - Electrical synapses are found in vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems. The cellular basis of these synapses is the gap junction, a group of intercellular channels that mediate direct communication between adjacent neurons. Similar to chemical synapses, electrical connections are modifiable and their variations in strength provide a mechanism for reconfiguring neural circuits. In addition, electrical synapses dynamically regulate neural circuits through properties without equivalence in chemical transmission. Because of their continuous nature and bidirectionality, electrical synapses allow electrical currents underlying changes in membrane potential to leak to ‘coupled’ partners, dampening neuronal excitability and altering their integrative properties. Remarkably, this effect can be transiently alleviated when comparable changes in membrane potential simultaneously occur in each of the coupled neurons, a phenomenon that is dynamically dictated by the timing of arriving signals such as synaptic potentials. By way of this mechanism, electrical synapses influence synaptic integration and action potential generation, imparting an additional layer of dynamic complexity to neural circuits.
AB - Electrical synapses are found in vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems. The cellular basis of these synapses is the gap junction, a group of intercellular channels that mediate direct communication between adjacent neurons. Similar to chemical synapses, electrical connections are modifiable and their variations in strength provide a mechanism for reconfiguring neural circuits. In addition, electrical synapses dynamically regulate neural circuits through properties without equivalence in chemical transmission. Because of their continuous nature and bidirectionality, electrical synapses allow electrical currents underlying changes in membrane potential to leak to ‘coupled’ partners, dampening neuronal excitability and altering their integrative properties. Remarkably, this effect can be transiently alleviated when comparable changes in membrane potential simultaneously occur in each of the coupled neurons, a phenomenon that is dynamically dictated by the timing of arriving signals such as synaptic potentials. By way of this mechanism, electrical synapses influence synaptic integration and action potential generation, imparting an additional layer of dynamic complexity to neural circuits.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062455781&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85062455781&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41583-019-0133-5
DO - 10.1038/s41583-019-0133-5
M3 - Review article
C2 - 30824857
AN - SCOPUS:85062455781
SN - 1471-003X
VL - 20
SP - 253
EP - 271
JO - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
JF - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
IS - 5
ER -