Membrane potential articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    How starburst amacrine cell (SAC) dendrites transform concentrically distributed synaptic inputs into branch-specific directional outputs is not fully understood. Here the authors report that dendritic mGluR2 signaling and somatic Kv3-mediated shunting coordinately implement SAC dendritic direction selectivity.

    • Héctor Acarón Ledesma
    • , Jennifer Ding
    •  & Wei Wei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Behaviorally relevant neural rhythms have been mainly studied at the neural population level. Here, the authors show that subthreshold membrane voltage delta-frequency oscillations in individual striatal cholinergic neurons modulate spike timing, striatal network beta rhythmicity, and track patterned stepping movement.

    • Sanaya N. Shroff
    • , Eric Lowet
    •  & Xue Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present an in-depth investigation of excited state dynamics and molecular mechanism of the voltage sensing in microbial rhodopsins. Using a combination of spectroscopic investigations and molecular dynamics simulations, the study proposes the voltage-modulated deprotonation of the chromophore as the key event in the voltage sensing. Thus, molecular constraints that may further improve the fluorescence quantum yield and the voltage sensitivity are presented.

    • Arita Silapetere
    • , Songhwan Hwang
    •  & Peter Hegemann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The in vivo firing patterns of ventral midbrain dopamine neurons are controlled by afferent and intrinsic activity. The authors identified biophysical membrane potential signatures associated with distinct in vivo firing patterns in whole-cell recordings of spontaneously active midbrain dopamine neurons.

    • Kanako Otomo
    • , Jessica Perkins
    •  & Carlos A. Paladini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ‘Analogue’ modulation by somatic membrane potentials can modify ‘digital’ axonal action potentials. Here, the authors show that analogue modulation can occur in back-propagating dendritic action potentials and calcium signals, leading to signal enhancement or attenuation in a location-dependent manner.

    • János Brunner
    •  & János Szabadics

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A mutation in the sodium channel Nav1.9 has been identified in a family and shown to associate with cold-aggravated pain. Here, the authors characterize the electrophysiological consequences of this mutation and propose a mechanism for the pain that the individuals experience.

    • Enrico Leipold
    • , Andrea Hanson-Kahn
    •  & Ingo Kurth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inactivation of Shaker potassium channels is caused by one of the four cytoplasmic amino termini, termed the inactivation gate. Here, Venkataraman et al. show that a single gate threads through the intracellular entryway of its own subunit and interacts with all four subunits deeper in the pore, demonstrating the function of this N-terminus.

    • Gaurav Venkataraman
    • , Deepa Srikumar
    •  & Miguel Holmgren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The kinase PINK1 is mutated in Parkinson's disease and accumulates in defective mitochondria, where it recruits Parkin. Here, PINK1 is shown to be autophosphorylated and this is required for the localization of PINK1 to mitochondria with a reduced membrane potential, and for the recruitment of Parkin.

    • Kei Okatsu
    • , Toshihiko Oka
    •  & Noriyuki Matsuda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ambient levels of the neurotransmitter GABA tonically activate GABAA. Song et al.show that GABA can have both excitatory and inhibitory effects on hippocampal interneurons and find that low levels of GABA-mediated conductance are excitatory, whereas higher levels result in shunting inhibition.

    • Inseon Song
    • , Leonid Savtchenko
    •  & Alexey Semyanov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In neurons, GABAA receptors mediate feed-forward inhibition by shunting excitatory currents and hyperpolarizing neurons. Here, the authors show that the hyperpolarization-activated mixed cation current is critical for determining the resting membrane potential and reversal potential for GABAA-mediated currents.

    • Ivan Pavlov
    • , Annalisa Scimemi
    •  & Matthew C. Walker

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