EPSPs, IPSPs, and Algebraic Processing
When EPSPs and IPSPs are generated simultaneously in the same cell, the output response will be determined by the relative strengths of the excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Output instructions are thus determined by this algebraic processing of information. Because the discharge threshold across a synapse is a function of the presynaptic volleys that act upon it, and because a given neuron may receive branches from many axons, the passage of impulses in a network of such synapses can be highly varied. The versatility of the synapse arises from its ability to modify information by algebraically summing input signals. The subsequent change in stimulation threshold of the postsynaptic membrane can be enhanced or inhibited, depending on the transmitter chemical involved and the ion permeabilities. Thus the synapse acts as a decision point at which information converges, and it is modified by algebraic processing of EPSPs and IPSPs. In addition to the IPSP inhibitory mechanism, there is a presynaptic kind of inhibition that involves either a hyperpolarization on the inhibited axon or a persistent depolarization; whether it is the former or the latter depends on the specific neurons involved.
Read more about this topic: Summation (neurophysiology)
Famous quotes containing the word algebraic:
“I have no scheme about it,—no designs on men at all; and, if I had, my mode would be to tempt them with the fruit, and not with the manure. To what end do I lead a simple life at all, pray? That I may teach others to simplify their lives?—and so all our lives be simplified merely, like an algebraic formula? Or not, rather, that I may make use of the ground I have cleared, to live more worthily and profitably?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)