SK channel subtypes enable parallel optimized coding of behaviorally relevant stimulus attributes: A review
| Autor: | Maurice J. Chacron, Chengjie G. Huang |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Small-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels media_common.quotation_subject Biophysics Action Potentials Reviews Sensory system Stimulus (physiology) Biology Biochemistry SK channel 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Perception Animals Functional homology Electric fish Ion channel media_common Neurons Vestibular system Behavior Animal Pyramidal Cells Brain 030104 developmental biology Generalization Stimulus Neuroscience 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Electric Fish |
| Zdroj: | Channels. 11:281-304 |
| ISSN: | 1933-6969 1933-6950 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/19336950.2017.1299835 |
| Popis: | Ion channels play essential roles toward determining how neurons respond to sensory input to mediate perception and behavior. Small conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels are found ubiquitously throughout the brain and have been extensively characterized both molecularly and physiologically in terms of structure and function. It is clear that SK channels are key determinants of neural excitability as they mediate important neuronal response properties such as spike frequency adaptation. However, the functional roles of the different known SK channel subtypes are not well understood. Here we review recent evidence from the electrosensory system of weakly electric fish suggesting that the function of different SK channel subtypes is to optimize the processing of independent but behaviorally relevant stimulus attributes. Indeed, natural sensory stimuli frequently consist of a fast time-varying waveform (i.e., the carrier) whose amplitude (i.e., the envelope) varies slowly and independently. We first review evidence showing how somatic SK2 channels mediate tuning and responses to carrier waveforms. We then review evidence showing how dendritic SK1 channels instead determine tuning and optimize responses to envelope waveforms based on their statistics as found in the organism's natural environment in an independent fashion. The high degree of functional homology between SK channels in electric fish and their mammalian orthologs, as well as the many important parallels between the electrosensory system and the mammalian visual, auditory, and vestibular systems, suggest that these functional roles are conserved across systems and species. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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