Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Who let the spikes out?

Quantitative immunostaining, electrophysiology and modeling show that two sodium channel isoforms are asymmetrically distributed in the axon initial segment. Their polarized distribution explains many of the unique properties of the axon initial segment, including its ability to both initiate spikes and guarantee subsequent backpropagation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A new blueprint for action potential initiation in the AIS.

References

  1. Hu, W. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 12, 996–1002 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Catterall, W.A. J. Neurosci. 1, 777–783 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Coombs, J.S., Curtis, D.R. & Eccles, J.C. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 139, 232–249 (1957).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Katz, B. The Release of Neural Transmitter Substances (Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, UK, 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Markram, H., Lubke, J., Frotscher, M. & Sakmann, B. Science 275, 213–215 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Magee, J.C. & Johnston, D. Science 275, 209–213 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Rush, A.M., Dib-Hajj, S.D. & Waxman, S.G. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 564, 803–815 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kole, M.H. & Stuart, G.J. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 1253–1255 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Colbert, C.M. & Johnston, D. A. J. Neurosci. 16, 6676–6686 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Kole, M.H. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 178–186 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Song, A.H. et al. Cell 136, 1148–1160 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhou, D. et al. J. Cell Biol. 143, 1295–1304 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Pan, Z. et al. J. Neurosci. 26, 2599–2613 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Naundorf, B., Wolf, F. & Volgushev, M. Nature 440, 1060–1063 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. McCormick, D.A., Shu, Y. & Yu, Y. Nature 445, E1–E2 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dulla, C., Huguenard, J. Who let the spikes out?. Nat Neurosci 12, 959–960 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0809-959

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0809-959

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing