Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Glutamatergic Circuits: Mouse Whisker System

Description

This lecture explores how glutamatergic synapses play a crucial role in relaying sensory information from the periphery to the neocortex, focusing on the Mouse Whisker System as a model. It delves into the organization of the primary somatosensory neocortex, the wiring diagrams of microcircuits, and the importance of large amplitude synapses in driving reliable sensory processing.

In MOOC

Cellular Mechanisms of Brain Function

Official source

Quiz

Related concepts (22)

Chemical synapse

Chemical synapses are biological junctions through which neurons' signals can be sent to each other and to non-neuronal cells such as those in muscles or glands. Chemical synapses allow neurons to form circuits within the central nervous system. They are crucial to the biological computations that underlie perception and thought. They allow the nervous system to connect to and control other systems of the body. At a chemical synapse, one neuron releases neurotransmitter molecules into a small space (the synaptic cleft) that is adjacent to another neuron.

Cortical column

A cortical column is a group of neurons forming a cylindrical structure through the cerebral cortex of the brain perpendicular to the cortical surface. The structure was first identified by Mountcastle in 1957. He later identified minicolumns as the basic units of the neocortex which were arranged into columns. Each contains the same types of neurons, connectivity, and firing properties. Columns are also called hypercolumn, macrocolumn, functional column or sometimes cortical module.

Neocortex

The neocortex, also called the neopallium, isocortex, or the six-layered cortex, is a set of layers of the mammalian cerebral cortex involved in higher-order brain functions such as sensory perception, cognition, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning and language. The neocortex is further subdivided into the true isocortex and the proisocortex. In the human brain, the cerebral cortex consists of the larger neocortex and the smaller allocortex. The neocortex is made up of six layers, labelled from the outermost inwards, I to VI.

Electrical synapse

An electrical synapse is a mechanical and electrically conductive link between two neighboring neurons that is formed at a narrow gap between the pre- and postsynaptic neurons known as a gap junction. At gap junctions, such cells approach within about 3.8 nm of each other, a much shorter distance than the 20- to 40-nanometer distance that separates cells at chemical synapse. In many animals, electrical synapse-based systems co-exist with chemical synapses.

Synapse

In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. Synapses are essential to the transmission of nervous impulses from one neuron to another. Neurons are specialized to pass signals to individual target cells, and synapses are the means by which they do so. At a synapse, the plasma membrane of the signal-passing neuron (the presynaptic neuron) comes into close apposition with the membrane of the target (postsynaptic) cell.

Related lectures (33)

Modeling the synaptic potential MOOC: Simulation Neurocience

Explores the modeling of synaptic potentials and the factors influencing their amplitude.

Why study human neuronal microcircuits

Explores the significance of studying human neuronal microcircuits and their correlation with brain size and cognitive abilities.

Cellular Mechanisms of Brain Function MOOC: Cellular Mechanisms of Brain Function

Series explores the biophysics of neurons and synapses, synaptic transmission, and brain function.

Understanding Synaptic Transmission

Explores synaptic transmission, neurotransmitters, and neural plasticity principles.