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.

Neuroscience

Strength in numbers

Nature volume 452, pages 420–421 (2008)Cite this article

To store information, the brain modulates synapses, which mediate communication between neurons. A closer look hints that subcellular changes in response to groups of synapses facilitate this process.

Ever since the Spanish neuroscientist Ramón y Cajal put forward his 'neuron theory'1, synapses have been the focus of research aiming to explain learning in terms of brain plasticity, or the functional reorganization of neural pathways in response to new experiences. But synapses, which mostly spread out along highly branched neuronal processes called dendrites, are relatively tiny and have been difficult to stimulate with any precision. Using a sophisticated new method that allows precise stimulation of activity patterns generated at specific locations in a single neuron, Losonczy and colleagues2 (page 436 of this issue) show that when clusters of synapses on a dendritic branch are stimulated simultaneously, under conditions thought to mirror brain states during learning, repeated activation leads to gradual changes in the response of the branch.

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

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

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

Figure 1: A closer look at plasticity.

References

  1. Ramón y Cajal, S. Neuron Theory or Reticular Theory? (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid, 1954).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Losonczy, A., Makara, J. K. & Magee, J. C. Nature 452, 436–441 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Matsuzaki, M. et al. Nature Neurosci. 4, 1086–1092 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Losonczy, A. & Magee, J. C. Neuron 50, 291–307 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hausser, M., Spruston, N. & Stuart, G. J. Science 290, 739–744 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Poirazi, P., Brannon, T. & Mel, B. W. Neuron 37, 989–999 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Poirazi, P. & Mel, B. W. Neuron 29, 779–796 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Spruston, N. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 9, 206–221 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhang, W. & Linden, D. J. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 4, 885–900 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Frick, A., Magee, J. & Johnston, D. Nature Neurosci. 7, 126–135 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Harvey, C. D. & Svoboda, K. Nature 450, 1195–200 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nelson Spruston is in the Department of Neurobiology and Physiology, Northwestern University, 2205 Tech Drive, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. spruston@northwestern.edu,

    Nelson Spruston

Authors
  1. Nelson Spruston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spruston, N. Strength in numbers. Nature 452, 420–421 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452420a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/452420a

Search

Advanced 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