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Electrical Advantages Of Dendritic Spines, Allan T. Gulledge, Nicholas T. Carnevale, Greg J. Stuart
Electrical Advantages Of Dendritic Spines, Allan T. Gulledge, Nicholas T. Carnevale, Greg J. Stuart
Dartmouth Scholarship
Many neurons receive excitatory glutamatergic input almost exclusively onto dendritic spines. In the absence of spines, the amplitudes and kinetics of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) at the site of synaptic input are highly variable and depend on dendritic location. We hypothesized that dendritic spines standardize the local geometry at the site of synaptic input, thereby reducing location-dependent variability of local EPSP properties. We tested this hypothesis using computational models of simplified and morphologically realistic spiny neurons that allow direct comparison of EPSPs generated on spine heads with EPSPs generated on dendritic shafts at the same dendritic locations. In all morphologies …