Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 May;77(5):610-624.
doi: 10.1002/dneu.22493. Epub 2017 Mar 14.

Synchrony and so much more: Diverse roles for electrical synapses in neural circuits

Barry W Connors  1
Affiliations
Review

Synchrony and so much more: Diverse roles for electrical synapses in neural circuits

Barry W Connors. Dev Neurobiol. 2017 May.

Abstract

Electrical synapses are neuronal gap junctions that are ubiquitous across brain regions and species. The biophysical properties of most electrical synapses are relatively simple-transcellular channels allow nearly ohmic, bidirectional flow of ionic current. Yet these connections can play remarkably diverse roles in different neural circuit contexts. Recent findings illustrate how electrical synapses may excite or inhibit, synchronize or desynchronize, augment or diminish rhythms, phase-shift, detect coincidences, enhance signals relative to noise, adapt, and interact with nonlinear membrane and transmitter-release mechanisms. Most of these functions are likely to be widespread in central nervous systems. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 77: 610-624, 2017.

Keywords: Cx36; electrical synapses; gap junctions; rhythms; synchrony.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Apostolides PF, Trussell LO. Regulation of interneuron excitability by gap junction coupling with principal cells. Nat Neurosci. 2013;16:1764–1772. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Apostolides PF, Trussell LO. Control of interneuron firing by subthreshold synaptic potentials in principal cells of the dorsal cochlear nucleus. Neuron. 2014;83:324–330. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Auerbach AA, Bennett MV. A rectifying electrotonic synapse in the central nervous system of a vertebrate. J Gen Physiol. 1969;53:211–237. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baylor DA, Fuortes MG, O’Bryan PM. Receptive fields of cones in the retina of the turtle. J Physiol. 1971;214:265–294. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beierlein M, Gibson JR, Connors BW. A network of electrically coupled interneurons drives synchronized inhibition in neocortex. Nat Neurosci. 2000;3:904–910. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms