Electrical behaviour of dendritic spines as revealed by voltage imaging

Marko A. Popovic, Nicholas Carnevale, Balazs Rozsa and Dejan Zecevic ()
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Marko A. Popovic: Yale University School of Medicine
Nicholas Carnevale: Yale University School of Medicine
Balazs Rozsa: Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Dejan Zecevic: Yale University School of Medicine

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Thousands of dendritic spines on individual neurons process information and mediate plasticity by generating electrical input signals using a sophisticated assembly of transmitter receptors and voltage-sensitive ion channel molecules. Our understanding, however, of the electrical behaviour of spines is limited because it has not been possible to record input signals from these structures with adequate sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution. Current interpretation of indirect data and speculations based on theoretical considerations are inconclusive. Here we use an electrochromic voltage-sensitive dye which acts as a transmembrane optical voltmeter with a linear scale to directly monitor electrical signals from individual spines on thin basal dendrites. The results show that synapses on these spines are not electrically isolated by the spine neck to a significant extent. Electrically, they behave as if they are located directly on dendrites.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9436

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