PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Stern, Peter
TI  - Synaptic Communication
AID  - 10.1126/stke.3852007tw162
DP  - 2007 May 08
TA  - Science's STKE
PG  - tw162--tw162
VI  - 2007
IP  - 385
4099  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2007/385/tw162.short
4100  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2007/385/tw162.full
SO  - Sci. STKE2007 May 08; 2007
AB  - The traditional view of pyramidal neurons, which are excitatory, is that they can only excite their downstream target cells. However, Ren et al. report that cortical pyramidal neurons can elicit an inhibitory synaptic current in another neighboring pyramidal neuron. These unusual responses were caused by axo-axonic disynaptic connections onto γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-releasing terminals located on or near the soma of the postsynaptic pyramidal cell. These so-called interpyramidal inhibitory postsynaptic currents were remarkably large and frequent, which suggests that they play an important role. M. Ren, Y. Yoshimura, N. Takada, S. Horibe, Y. Komatsu, Specialized inhibitory synaptic actions between nearby neocortical pyramidal neurons. Science 316, 758-761 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]