title: Information processing by graded-potential transmission through tonically active synapses.
abstract: Many neurons use graded membrane-potential changes, instead of action potentials, to transmit information. Traditional synaptic models feature discontinuous transmitter release by presynaptic action potentials, but this is not true for synapses between graded-potential neurons. In addition to graded and continuous transmitter release, they have multiple active zones, ribbon formations and L-type Ca2+ channels. These differences are probably linked to the high rate of vesicle fusion required for continuous transmitter release. Early stages of sensory systems provide some of the best characterized graded-potential neurons, and recent work on these systems suggests that modification of synaptic transmission by adaptation is a powerful feature of graded synapses.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juusola
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: R O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Uusitalo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weckström
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*