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Multiple spike-initiation zones in single neurons revealed by voltage-sensitive dyes

Nature volume 381, pages 322–325 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

THE primary function of the nerve cell is to process electrical signals. Over the past fifteen years1 there has been renewed interest in the detailed spatial analysis of signalling in individual neurons owing to experimental evidence that the regional electrical properties of neurons are complex. Thus the behaviour of many nerve cells cannot be understood on the basis of microelectrode measurements from the soma. Regional electrical properties of neurons have been studied using sharp microelectrode1 and patch-electrode2,3 recordings from neuronal processes, high-resolution multisite optical recordings of Ca2+ concentration changes4,5, and by using models to predict the distribution of membrane potential in the entire neuronal arborization6. Additional direct evidence about electrical signalling in neuronal processes in situ can now be obtained by recording membrane potential changes using voltage-sensitive dyes7,21. Here I demonstrate the existence of multiple action potential trigger zones in separate regions of the neuronal arborization of an identified molluscan neuron.

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  1. Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06520, USA

    Dejan Zec̆ević

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Zec̆ević, D. Multiple spike-initiation zones in single neurons revealed by voltage-sensitive dyes. Nature 381, 322–325 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/381322a0

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