ScienceDaily (May 8, 2007) — Addressing a current issue in neuroscience, Aldo Faisal and Simon Laughlin from Cambridge University investigate the reliability of thin axons for transmitting information. They show that noise effects in ion channels in the brain are much larger than previously assumed -- meaning the fidelity of transmission is compromised.

Neurons in the cerebral cortex of the brain can have a wiring density of up to 4km per mm3 by using incredibly thin axons as wires, with an average diameter of 0.3 micrometers (1ìm is one millionth of a meter). Although, as in computer chips, this miniaturization economizes on space and energy, it increases the noise introduced by thermodynamic fluctuations in a neuron's voltage-gated ion channels. Axons use action potential (AP) to transmit information fast and reliably to synapses, but the reliability of transmissions down fibers of less than 0.5 ìm in diameter was unknown until this paper.

Using detailed models of rodent and squid axons and stochastic simulations, the authors performed experiments, now published in PLoS Computational Biology, which took several months to simulate a few milliseconds of real time in the brain. They show how conduction along such thin axons is affected by the probabilistic nature of voltage-gated ion channels (channel noise). Channel noise destroys information in the AP, and they conclude that these effects are much larger than previously supposed and therefore must be taken into account in any future studies of neural coding and the reliability of synaptic transmission.

CITATION: Citation: Faisal AA, Laughlin SB (2007) Stochastic simulations on the reliability of action potential propagation in thin axons. PLoS Comput Biol 3(5): e79. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030079, http://compbiol.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030079

Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by Public Library of Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Related Stories

New Discoveries About Neuron Plasticity Linked To Learning And Memory (Nov. 3, 2005) — Neurons experience large-scale changes across their dendrites during learning, say neuroscientists at The University of Texas at Austin in a new study that highlights the important role that these ...  > read more

A Good Ear: Rats Identify Specific Sounds In Noisy Environments (Nov. 27, 2008) — Alex Martin placed rats in a partially echo-free, sound-proof chamber and simultaneously played two types of sounds: Gaussian sound (containing all frequencies) of 25 decibels and a pure sound (made ...  > read more

Mysterious 'Neural Noise' Actually Primes Brain For Peak Performance (Nov. 13, 2006) — Researchers at the University of Rochester may have answered one of neuroscience's most vexing questions -- how can it be that our neurons, which are responsible for our crystal-clear thoughts, seem ...  > read more

Cancer-Causing Protein May Heal Damaged Spinal Cord And Brain Cells (June 29, 2006) — Cancer researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have found that a protein known for driving the growth of cancer also plays a surprising role in restoring the ability of neurons to ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily

Making Hospitals Quieter