Somatic modulation of ectopic action potential initiation in distal axons

Aurélie Fékété (1) , Dominique Debanne (1)

1 UNIS - Inserm U1072 - Unité de Neurobiologie des canaux Ioniques et de la Synapse

Classically, action potentials are initiated at the axon initial segment (AIS) when the summed depolarizing events arising from the dendrites exceed a threshold value. Then, action potentials propagate along the axon before reaching presynaptic terminals where they cause local calcium influx and transmitter release. According to this scheme, the AIS is a major player since all propagated excitation is precisely initiated at this hot spot endowed with a high concentration of sodium channels.

Keywords: Distal axon; Somato-dendritic; Soma; Synaptic response

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]; Neurobiology

Aurélie Fékété, Dominique Debanne. Somatic modulation of ectopic action potential initiation in distal axons. The Journal of Physiology, 2018, 596 (21), pp.5067-5068. ⟨10.1113/jp277012⟩. ⟨hal-01963294⟩