Journal article

Publication year: 1998

Pages: 767-776

Journal: The Journal of Physiology

Volume number: 509

Issue number: 3

ISSN: 0022-3751

Open access status: Green

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7793.1998.767bm.x

Publisher: Wiley

Abstract: 

1. A novel method of 'entire soma isolation' was used to describe the distribution of voltage-gated K+ channels between soma, axon and dendrites of dorsal horn neurones identified in spinal cord slices of newborn rat.

2. The soma contained 36 % of total inactivating (K-A) current but only 15 % of delayed rectifier (K-DR) current. The axon initial segment possessed almost half (47 %) of the total K-A current and 38% of K-DR current. In contrast, dendrites contained a small portion (17 %) of K-A but 47 % of K-DR current.

3. Under current-clamp conditions, the some isolated from axon and dendrites was not able to generate action potentials. It passively conducted weak (less than or equal to-50mV) and amplified pronounced (-50 to 0 mV) depolarizations but inhibited strong (greater than or equal to 0 mV) depolarizations.

4. It is concluded that the soma plays a complex role in the excitability of spinal dorsal horn neurones. It conducts passively or amplifies excitatory postsynaptic potentials on their way from dendrites and soma to the axon initial segment but it inhibits back-propagation of the action potential from the axon to the dendrites.

Harvard Citation style: Wolff, M., Vogel, W. and Safronov, B. (1998) Uneven distribution of K⁺ channels in soma, axon and dendrites of rat spinal neurones:: functional role of the soma in generation of action potentials, The Journal of Physiology, 509(3), pp. 767-776. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7793.1998.767bm.x

APA Citation style: Wolff, M., Vogel, W., & Safronov, B. (1998). Uneven distribution of K⁺ channels in soma, axon and dendrites of rat spinal neurones:: functional role of the soma in generation of action potentials. The Journal of Physiology. 509(3), 767-776. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7793.1998.767bm.x