1993 Volume 33 Issue 5 Pages 255-262
Many types of central nervous system neurons generate action potentials not only at their soma and axons but also at the dendrites. It has been a matter of dispute where in the dendrites do dendritic spikes fire. This question was studied by optically monitoring transient Ca/Na changes from single neurons in brain slice preparations. It has been shown 1) that cerebellar Purkinje neurons fire Ca spikes all over the dendritic field; 2) that cerebellar Purkinje neurons fire Na spikes at the soma and the initial segment; 3) that hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons fire Na spikes at proximal 2/3 of the apical dendrites; 4) that hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons have voltage-gated Ca channels all over the dendrites; and 5) that most Ca rise at dendrites in cerabellar Pukinje neurons and hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons are related to dendritic spikes.
