title: Pacemaker neurons and neuronal networks: an integrative view.
abstract: Rhythmically active neuronal networks give rise to rhythmic motor activities but also to seemingly non-rhythmic behaviors such as sleep, arousal, addiction, memory and cognition. Many of these networks contain pacemaker neurons. The ability of these neurons to generate bursts of activity intrinsically lies in voltage- and time-dependent ion fluxes resulting from a dynamic interplay among ion channels, second messenger pathways and intracellular Ca2+ concentrations, and is influenced by neuromodulators and synaptic inputs. This complex intrinsic and extrinsic modulation of pacemaker activity exerts a dynamic effect on network activity. The nonlinearity of bursting activity might enable pacemaker neurons to facilitate the onset of excitatory states or to synchronize neuronal ensembles--an interactive process that is intimately regulated by synaptic and modulatory processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Committees on Neurobiology, Computational Neuroscience and Molecular Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. jramire@uchicago.edu
authors.forename: Jan-Marino
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Tryba
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Peña
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels