NROC69H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Basal Dendrite, Pyramidal Cell, Axon Hillock
Document Summary
A muscle fiber receives 1 excitatory input from 1 motor neuron. Central neuron receive inputs from 100s of neurons can be both excitatory and inhibitory. A neuron decides to fire an action potential or not depending on the membrane potential at the spike trigger zone is above or below threshold. Action potential in the central nervous system is triggered by 1000s of epsp and ipsp generated at different parts of complex dendritic tree must travel down the axon hillock. Synaptic integration epsps and ipsps add up to determine the membrane potential at the spike initiation zone. Dendrites are the mere conduits delivering synaptic potentials to the site of integration. If a synaptic input occurs before a previous potential has decayed then the two will summate causing a high frequency excitatory input producing a high epsp. Synaptic input is located relative to active dendritic conductance. Synaptic input is located relative to other epsp/ipsp, which is to do with synaptic placement.
