Discreet charm of the GABAergic bourgeoisie: superconnected cells conduct developmental symphonies.
In an exciting study in the December 4(th) issue of Science, Bonifazi and colleagues demonstrated the existence and importance of exceedingly rare but unusually richly connected cells in the developing hippocampus. Manipulating the activity of single GABAergic hub cells modulated network activity patterns, demonstrating their importance for coordinating synchronous activity.
Case
Marianne
M
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. marianne.case@uci.edu
Soltesz
Ivan
I
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007395:Interneurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid