Dendritic action potentials and computation in human layer 2/3 cortical neurons

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aax6239
• Publication Date: 2020-01-03T00:10:29Z
• Authors: Albert Gidon; Timothy Adam Zolnik; Pawel Fidzinski; Felix Bolduan; Athanasia Papoutsi; Panayiota Poirazi; Martin Holtkamp; Imre Vida; Matthew Evan Larkum
• Keywords: Cortical neurons

The active electrical properties of dendrites shape neuronal input and output are fundamental to brain function. However, our knowledge has been almost entirely acquired from studies rodents. In this work, we investigated the layer 2 3 (L2/3) pyramidal neurons human cerebral cortex ex vivo. these neurons, discovered a class calcium-mediated dendritic action potentials (dCaAPs) whose waveform effects on have not previously described. contrast typical all-or-none potentials, dCaAPs were graded; their amplitudes maximal for threshold-level stimuli but dampened stronger stimuli. These enabled individual neocortical classify linearly nonseparable inputs-a computation conventionally thought require multilayered networks.