, 1995, Herberholz et al., 2002 and DeVries et al., 2002); (3) lateral excitation promotes the coordinated activity of a population of CEs; and (4) the coordinated activity likely increases efficacy of auditory input for the initiation of an escape response. These events are likely enhanced by electrical rectification, which favors the spread of currents from the M-cell lateral dendrite toward the presynaptic CEs. That is, because dendritic

currents would encounter a lower resistance to spread across these junctions than those generated presynaptically, electrical rectification favors the retrograde transmission of dendritic Selleck RO4929097 signals, counteracting the leak of currents toward the soma, following a pathway of low resistance (Figure 6). Moreover, given that coupling increases

with presynaptic depolarization, the voltage dependence of electrical coupling we describe here acts as a “coincidence detector,” promoting the recruitment of CEs that are already depolarized, such as during the invasion of an incoming action potential, whose depolarization (because of cable properties) travels several nodes ahead without reaching threshold (Figure 6). Thus, although differences in input resistance significantly contribute to the asymmetry of electrical transmission between these cells, rectification plays a critical functional role by directing currents toward the presynaptic http://www.selleckchem.com/products/z-vad-fmk.html endings. A generalized perception is that each side in most GJ plaques represents the mirror image of the other, as its formation requires the symmetric arrangement of hemichannels. This view, however, is changing with the recognition that connexins associate with a variety of proteins,

resulting mafosfamide in the formation of macromolecular complexes (Hervé et al., 2012). Furthermore, electrical synapses have been shown to be dynamic structures, where connexins actively turnover (Flores et al., 2012) and exhibit activity-dependent regulation of their coupling strength (Yang et al., 1990, Pereda and Faber, 1996, Landisman and Connors, 2005, Cachope et al., 2007 and Haas et al., 2011). These properties suggest that each side in a GJ plaque must be supported by a scaffold structure, similar to postsynaptic densities at chemical synapses (Kennedy, 2000). While the detailed composition of this scaffold is largely unknown, several molecules interact with Cx36 (Li et al., 2004, Li et al., 2009, Burr et al., 2005, Ciolofan et al., 2006 and Alev et al., 2008) and its teleost homologs (Flores et al., 2008 and Flores et al., 2010). Thus, molecular diversity in electrical synapses might not only be endowed by the connexins present but also potentially by differences in the ensemble of scaffold and regulatory molecules associated with each side of the gap junctions that form these synapses, which could be an additional means of creating molecular asymmetry, impacting on the functional properties of these channels.