Electrical synapse formation depends on interaction of mutually growing neurites.
A neuron's competence to form electrical synapses depends on its growth status. Experiments in situ and in cell culture with identified neurons of the snail Helisoma demonstrate that active neurite outgrowth from both potential partners must be spatially and temporally coincident for electrical synapse formation to occur.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006128:Growth; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012908:Snails; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*