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New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units

Neurons are the computational elements that compose the brain and their fundamental principles of activity are known for decades. According to the long-lasting computational scheme, each neuron sums the incoming electrical signals via its dendrites and when the membrane potential reaches a certain t...

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Autores principales: Sardi, Shira, Vardi, Roni, Sheinin, Anton, Goldental, Amir, Kanter, Ido
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5740076/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29269849
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18363-1
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author Sardi, Shira
Vardi, Roni
Sheinin, Anton
Goldental, Amir
Kanter, Ido
author_facet Sardi, Shira
Vardi, Roni
Sheinin, Anton
Goldental, Amir
Kanter, Ido
author_sort Sardi, Shira
collection PubMed
description Neurons are the computational elements that compose the brain and their fundamental principles of activity are known for decades. According to the long-lasting computational scheme, each neuron sums the incoming electrical signals via its dendrites and when the membrane potential reaches a certain threshold the neuron typically generates a spike to its axon. Here we present three types of experiments, using neuronal cultures, indicating that each neuron functions as a collection of independent threshold units. The neuron is anisotropically activated following the origin of the arriving signals to the membrane, via its dendritic trees. The first type of experiments demonstrates that a single neuron’s spike waveform typically varies as a function of the stimulation location. The second type reveals that spatial summation is absent for extracellular stimulations from different directions. The third type indicates that spatial summation and subtraction are not achieved when combining intra- and extra- cellular stimulations, as well as for nonlocal time interference, where the precise timings of the stimulations are irrelevant. Results call to re-examine neuronal functionalities beyond the traditional framework, and the advanced computational capabilities and dynamical properties of such complex systems.
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spelling pubmed-57400762018-01-03 New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units Sardi, Shira Vardi, Roni Sheinin, Anton Goldental, Amir Kanter, Ido Sci Rep Article Neurons are the computational elements that compose the brain and their fundamental principles of activity are known for decades. According to the long-lasting computational scheme, each neuron sums the incoming electrical signals via its dendrites and when the membrane potential reaches a certain threshold the neuron typically generates a spike to its axon. Here we present three types of experiments, using neuronal cultures, indicating that each neuron functions as a collection of independent threshold units. The neuron is anisotropically activated following the origin of the arriving signals to the membrane, via its dendritic trees. The first type of experiments demonstrates that a single neuron’s spike waveform typically varies as a function of the stimulation location. The second type reveals that spatial summation is absent for extracellular stimulations from different directions. The third type indicates that spatial summation and subtraction are not achieved when combining intra- and extra- cellular stimulations, as well as for nonlocal time interference, where the precise timings of the stimulations are irrelevant. Results call to re-examine neuronal functionalities beyond the traditional framework, and the advanced computational capabilities and dynamical properties of such complex systems. Nature Publishing Group UK 2017-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5740076/ /pubmed/29269849 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18363-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Sardi, Shira
Vardi, Roni
Sheinin, Anton
Goldental, Amir
Kanter, Ido
New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units
title New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units
title_full New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units
title_fullStr New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units
title_full_unstemmed New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units
title_short New Types of Experiments Reveal that a Neuron Functions as Multiple Independent Threshold Units
title_sort new types of experiments reveal that a neuron functions as multiple independent threshold units
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5740076/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29269849
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18363-1
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