How to dismantle a detonator synapse.
Direct electrophysiological evaluation of ion channels in vertebrate presynaptic nerve terminals has been limited to synapses such as the neuromuscular junction and the giant calyx of Held. In this issue of Neuron, Engel and Jonas demonstrate that mossy fiber boutons have specialized voltage-gated Na(+) channels that critically impact upon presynaptic Ca(2+) influx by amplifying terminal invading action potentials.
Pelkey
Kenneth A
KA
Laboratory of Cellular and Synaptic Neurophysiology, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Building 35, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
McBain
Chris J
CJ
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology; D015640:Ion Channel Gating / Q000502:physiology; D019599:Mossy Fibers, Hippocampal / Q000502:physiology*; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000502:physiology; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000502:physiology*; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*
D015221:Potassium Channels; D015222:Sodium Channels