On the Importance of Single Spikes

from reference 1


As mentioned numerous times before in this forum, neurons in the brain communicate by action potentials: pulses of voltage that usually propagate from the cell body (soma) down a specialized outcropping of membrane called the axon which synapses onto other neurons. Usually, these synapses link pre-synaptic axons to post-synaptic dendrites, cellular structures specialized for recieving input.

Until recently, it was thought impossible for a single action potential, initiated in soma, to cause a second, post-synaptic neuron to fire an action potential; rather, as has been extensively documented, single neurons require many simultaneous dendritic inputs which are summed together to cause an action potential to be initiated in the soma. Recent research, however, has identified a cell type found exclusively in the cerebral cortex of human beings which seems to contradict this generalization. These neurons, termed "chandelier cells" are able to cause a chain of post-synaptic events (action potentials in several cells) lasting up to, on average, 37 milliseconds, ten times longer than had been previously assumed possible¹.

The article reporting these findings, published in the estimable journal PLoS Biology, describes one feature that the authors feel is of paramount importance to this phenomenon. Apparently chandelier cells are much more likely to make axo-axonic connections. That is, they send their pulses of activity not to dentrites, but to other axons. The reason for this somewhat exotic type of connectivity is that chandelier cells normally turn off the output of other neurons by sending inhibitory signals that cancel action potentials being sent down axons of the chandelier's targets. It seems then, that single chandelier cell action potentials inhibit other cells which are themselves inhibitory, indirectly exciting the targets of these secondary inhibitory cells.

The relevance of these findings to human cognition or consciousness is unclear, but this represents a significant advancement for our understanding of the functional connectivity of the human brain.

References:
1. Molnár G, Oláh S, Komlósi G, Füle M, Szabadics J, et al. (2008) Complex Events Initiated by Individual Spikes in the Human Cerebral Cortex. PLoS Biol 6(9): e222 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060222