Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1997-3-31
pubmed:abstractText
Several lines of evidence indicate that brief (< 25 ms) bursts of high-frequency firing have special importance in brain function. Recent work shows that many central synapses are surprisingly unreliable at signaling the arrival of single presynaptic action potentials to the postsynaptic neuron. However, bursts are reliably signaled because transmitter release is facilitated. Thus, these synapses can be viewed as filters that transmit bursts, but filter out single spikes. Bursts appear to have a special role in synaptic plasticity and information processing. In the hippocampus, a single burst can produce long-term synaptic modifications. In brain structures whose computational role is known, action potentials that arrive in bursts provide more-precise information than action potentials that arrive singly. These results, and the requirement for multiple inputs to fire a cell suggest that the best stimulus for exciting a cell (that is, a neural code) is coincident bursts.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jan
pubmed:issn
0166-2236
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
20
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
38-43
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1997
pubmed:articleTitle
Bursts as a unit of neural information: making unreliable synapses reliable.
pubmed:affiliation
Volen Center for Complex Systems, Biology Dept, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02254, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't