Caught on film: the secret lives of dendrites in the tadpole optic tectum

Abstract

Much is known about the functions and properties of neuronal dendrites, but rarely has dendritic activation been monitored while the dendrite performs a computational task. In this issue of Neuron, Bollmann and Engert demonstrate that different regions of a dendrite in the tadpole optic tectum are tuned to stimuli in different locations of the visual field. Their study is the first direct demonstration that dendritic regions act as semi-independent functional units during sensory processing in a vertebrate central nervous system.