Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jun 17.
Published in final edited form as: Dev Neurosci. 2021 Jun 17;43(3-4):201–221. doi: 10.1159/000516657

Figure 1: Mechanisms of synaptic integration on layer 5 pyramidal neurons dendrites in neocortex.

Figure 1:

A) Approximation of synaptic inputs to neocortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons, which tend to integrate long-range synaptic inputs onto apical tuft dendritic branches and local inputs on basal dendrites.

B) Coincidence detection between apical dendritic excitatory post-synaptic potentials (EPSPs) and action potentials (APs) from basal regions generates supralinear depolarizations and axonal AP bursts.

C) High-frequency AP bursts onto apical tuft dendrites alone can evoke dendritic spikes and subsequent APs from the axon.

D) Synchronous synaptic input on dendritic branches drives individual EPSPs. When combined in a cascade of events from distal to more proximal parts of the soma, these EPSPs summate to generate events larger than their arithmetic sum (e.g., dendritic spike).