Chapter 17 - Firing patterns of neurons

Abstract

The electrical activity of a neuron is related not only to the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs that it receives, but also to its intrinsic electrophysiological membrane properties; i.e. the subliminal voltage-gated channels present in its dendritic, somatic and initial segment membranes and activated in the near-threshold range of membrane potential. As a result, the same postsynaptic depolarizing current will trigger different firing patterns according to the neuronal cell type recorded. In brief, the firing pattern (output) of a neuron results from the integration of synaptic currents (input) and subliminal voltage-gated currents present in the somatic and dendritic membrane. In this chapter we shall study the mechanisms underlying the firing patterns of medium spiny neurons of the striatum, of inferior olivary neurons, of Purkinje cells of the cerebellar cortex, and of thalamic and subthalamic neurons.