Dendritic excitability articles from across Nature Portfolio

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.

Glutamate that diffuses out of the synaptic cleft can have actions at distant receptors, a mode of transmission called spillover. Here, the authors find in the cerebellar cortex that glutamate spillover from climbing fibers activates synaptic AMPA receptors of molecular layer interneurons, allowing glutamate from an unconnected pathway to co-opt postsynaptic receptors.

How glial cells like astrocytes shape complex brain functions remains unclear. Here, the authors identified an astrocyte-mediated excitatory signaling loop between neurons and their own dendritic signal integration that supports spatial memory.

The concept of dendrocentric learning artificial intelligence is proposed to replace synaptocentric learning, reducing the energy use requirement and removing the thermal constraint.

The influence of sharp-wave ripples (SPW-Rs) on dendritic computation remains poorly understood. Here, the authors demonstrate the existence of SPW-R associated, branch-specific, dendritic spikes which serve as a temporal and spatial coincidence detectors during SPW-R-doublets in PV+ interneuron dendrites of awake mice.

Models of dendrites have been instrumental in our understanding of their functions. Poirazi and Papoutsi review the major contributions of dendritic models, including those already proved or waiting to be experimentally verified, and highlight successful interactions between the modelling and experimental neuroscience communities.

Ning-long Xu discusses a 1999 paper that outlined a mechanism by which cortical pyramidal neurons integrate layer-specific inputs.

Dendritic activation and action potentials lead to the expression of distinct heterodimers of the inducible transcription factor NPAS4, which show distinct DNA binding patterns; these patterns were recapitulated on exposure of mice to a novel environment.

Patch-clamp recordings and imaging in retina show that electrical synapses between dendrites of neighboring ganglion cells transform spatial patterns of light activated synaptic input into a temporal population code.

Place-cell firing in mice can be accompanied by regenerative dendritic events, which predict some of the properties of place fields.

Active dendritic processing has a role in neuronal computations in the visual system.