AUTHOR=Zbili Mickael , Rama Sylvain , Debanne Dominique 

TITLE=Dynamic Control of Neurotransmitter Release by Presynaptic Potential

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2016

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2016.00278

DOI=10.3389/fncel.2016.00278

ISSN=1662-5102

ABSTRACT=Action potentials in the mammalian brain are thought to represent the smallest unit of information transmitted by neurons to their postsynaptic targets. According to this view, neuronal signaling is all-or-none or digital. Increasing evidence suggests, however, that subthreshold changes in presynaptic membrane potential before triggering the spike also determines spike-evoked release of neurotransmitter. We discuss here how analog changes in presynaptic voltage may regulate spike-evoked release of neurotransmitter through the modulation of biophysical state of voltage-gated potassium, calcium and sodium channels in the presynaptic compartment. The contribution of this regulation has been greatly underestimated and we discuss the impact for information processing in neuronal circuits.