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Science 5 January 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5501, pp. 138 - 141
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5501.138
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Reports

Differential Shunting of EPSPs by Action Potentials

Michael Häusser,1*dagger Guy Major,2ddagger Greg J. Stuart3*

Neurons encode information and communicate via action potentials, which are generated following the summation of synaptic events. It is commonly assumed that action potentials reset the membrane potential completely, allowing another round of synaptic integration to begin. We show here that the conductances underlying the action potential act instead as a variable reset of synaptic integration. The strength of this reset is cell type-specific and depends on the kinetics, location, and timing of the synaptic input. As a consequence, distal synapses, as well as inputs mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor activation, can contribute disproportionately to synaptic integration during action potential firing.

1 Department of Physiology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
2 University Laboratory of Physiology, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
3 Division of Neuroscience, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
*   These authors contributed equally to this work.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.hausser{at}ucl.ac.uk

ddagger    Present address: Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA.

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