| First Author | Johnson E | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | iScience | Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 105914 |
| PubMed ID | 36691620 | Mgi Jnum | J:355285 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7430484 | Doi | 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105914 |
| Citation | Johnson E, et al. (2023) Graded spikes differentially signal neurotransmitter input in cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons of the mouse spinal cord. iScience 26(1):105914 |
| abstractText | The action potential and its all-or-none nature is fundamental to neural communication. Canonically, the action potential is initiated once voltage-activated Na(+) channels are activated, and their rapid kinetics of activation and inactivation give rise to the action potential's all-or-none nature. Here we demonstrate that cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons (CSFcNs) surrounding the central canal of the mouse spinal cord employ a different strategy. Rather than using voltage-activated Na(+) channels to generate binary spikes, CSFcNs use two different types of voltage-activated Ca(2+) channel, enabling spikes of different amplitude. T-type Ca(2+) channels generate small amplitude spikes, whereas larger amplitude spikes require high voltage-activated Cd(2+)-sensitive Ca(2+) channels. We demonstrate that these different amplitude spikes can signal input from different transmitter systems; purinergic inputs evoke smaller T-type dependent spikes whereas cholinergic inputs evoke larger spikes that do not rely on T-type channels. Different synaptic inputs to CSFcNs can therefore be signaled by the spike amplitude. |
