ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2012
Synergy between electrical coupling and membrane properties promotes strong synchronization of neurons of the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers.
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Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed, 130 citations in OpenAlex.
- Defining the electrical synapse.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Photomapping electrically coupled networks of the mature thalamus and cortex.Science advances · 2026Article
- Frequency-dependent coupling in response to oscillatory inputs in minimal networks of electrically coupled nodes: Gap junction networks and spatially extended neurons.Biological cybernetics · 2026Article
- Lipids intercalate and mediate multi-channel assemblies of connexin-46/50 gap junctions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Effects of Gap Junctions and Inhibition on the Synchronization Behavior of a Biophysically Detailed Neural Network Model of Bushy Cells.Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO · 2026Article
- Photomapping electrically coupled networks of the mature thalamus and cortex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The mesencephalic trigeminal neuron: electrophysiological insights into function and dysfunction.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Astrocyte-induced firing in primary afferent axons.iScience · 2025Article
- Article
- Characterization of direct Purkinje cell outputs to the brainstem.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The components of an electrical synapse as revealed by expansion microscopy of a single synaptic contact.eLife · 2024Article
- The ultrastructure of macaque mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus neurons.Experimental brain research · 2024Article
- Patterns of connexin36 and eGFP reporter expression among motoneurons in spinal sexually dimorphic motor nuclei in mouse.International journal of physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology · 2024Article
- Association of connexin36 with adherens junctions at mixed synapses and distinguishing electrophysiological features of those at mossy fiber terminals in rat ventral hippocampus.International journal of physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology · 2024Article
- Functionally Distinct Circuits Are Linked by Heterocellular Electrical Synapses in the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus.eNeuro · 2024Article
- Modeling and analysis of voltage gating of gap junction channels at a single-channel level.Biophysical journal · 2023Article
- D-type K+ current rules the function of electrically coupled neurons in a species-specific fashion.The Journal of general physiology · 2023Article
- Different species, different gap junctions?The Journal of general physiology · 2023Article
- Neurobeachin controls the asymmetric subcellular distribution of electrical synapse proteins.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Article
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
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Abstract
Electrical synapses are known to form networks of extensively coupled neurons in various regions of the mammalian brain. The mesencephalic trigeminal (MesV) nucleus, formed by the somata of primary afferents originating in jaw-closing muscles, constitutes one of the first examples supporting the presence of electrical synapses in the mammalian CNS; however, the properties, functional organization, and developmental emergence of electrical coupling within this structure remain unknown. By combining electrophysiological, tracer coupling, and immunochemical analysis in brain slices of rat and mouse, we found that coupling is mostly restricted to pairs or small clusters of MesV neurons. Electrical transmission is supported by connexin36 (Cx36)-containing gap junctions at somato-somatic contacts where only a small proportion of channels appear to be open (∼0.1%). In marked contrast with most brain structures, coupling among MesV neurons increases with age, such that it is absent during early development and appears at postnatal day 8. Interestingly, the development of coupling parallels the development of intrinsic membrane properties responsible for repetitive firing in these neurons. We found that, acting together, sodium and potassium conductances enhance the transfer of signals with high-frequency content via electrical synapses, leading to strong spiking synchronization of the coupled neurons. Together, our data indicate that coupling in the MesV nucleus is restricted to mostly pairs of somata between which electrical transmission is supported by a surprisingly small fraction of the channels estimated to be present, and that coupling synergically interacts with specific membrane conductances to promote synchronization of these neurons.
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