Activity-dependent modulation of neuronal excitability and action potential initiation

Cellular & Integrative NeuroscienceCellular & Integrative Neuroscience (CI)

Organised by Joern Steinert and Ian Forsythe (University of Leicester, UK)

This symposium will focus on comparisons of neuronal network plasticity and its activity-dependent regulation in different areas of the mammalian brain. The aim is to relate different models of neuronal excitability to existing problems of information transmission and integration. In addition to changes in synaptic strength (e.g. LTP/LTD), synaptic activity can also regulate voltage-gated conductances in neurons, implying that glutamatergic signalling can influence postsynaptic excitability. A range of ionic conductances (e.g. potassium, sodium and calcium channels) are involved in determining excitability and action potential (AP) initiation, this symposium explores how this basic unit of neuronal communication (the AP) can be modified and regulated within the brain by both excitatory and inhibitory transmission and through mechanisms of intrinsic plasticity.

Activity-dependent plasticity of fast after-depolarizing potentials: a route to persistent excitability changes in hippocampal pyramidal cells
Andy Randall (University of Bristol, UK)
Nitric oxide - an activity-dependent regulator of neuronal intrinsic excitability
Joern R Steinert (University of Leicester, UK)
Kv2.1 – a key regulator of hippocampal excitability
Hiroaki Misonou (Doshisha University, Japan)
M-currents and control of sensory neuron excitability
Nikita Gamper (University of Leeds, UK)
Dopamine modulation of axon initial segment ion channel activity
Larry O Trussell (Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, USA)
Activity- and developmental- regulation of a hippocampal feedforward inhibition
Chris McBain (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH, Bethesda, USA)