The role of electrical signaling via gap junctions in the generation of fast network oscillations.
In recent years, several key studies have shed new light on the roles of electrical signaling via gap junctions between neurons in the adult brain. In particular, it is now clear that electrical signaling is important, if not essential, for the generation of a wide variety of different network interactions which may underlie rhythmic activity, of cognitive relevance, seen in EEG recordings. Two types of such rhythmic activity observed in the hippocampus both in vivo and in vitro are gamma frequency (30-80Hz) oscillations and ultrafast (>80Hz) "ripple" oscillations. Several lines of work, discussed here, show that gap junction-mediated signaling plays a central role in the generation of both these types of network activity. Recent work also now suggests that a number of different, anatomically discrete, gap junction-mediated networks may exist which could both function and be modulated independently.
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, LS2 9NQ, Leeds, UK. F.E.N.LeBeau@leeds.ac.uk
Fiona E N
FE
LeBeau
Roger D
RD
Traub
Hannah
H
Monyer
Miles A
MA
Whittington
Eberhard H
EH
Buhl
D000818:Animals; D017630:Connexins / Q000378:metabolism; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004569:Electroencephalography; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D000097004:Gap Junction delta-2 Protein
D017630:Connexins; D000097004:Gap Junction delta-2 Protein