Dr Mikko Juusola: Action Potential Coding

Action potentials analogue signals?

In some neural systems, such as in spider slit sense organ meachnoreceptors (cf. Juusola and French, 1997; Fig 2b), action potential waveforms correlate with underlying graded signals, suggesting that action potential waveforms could participate in carrying information about stimulus changes. Together with Gonzalo de Polavieja, Annette Harsch, Ingo Kleppe and Hugh Robinson we have now tested this hypothesis (de Polavieja et al., 2005) using recordings of action potentials to naturalistic conductances from rat cortical slices. Very soon, in other projects using Drosophila, we will be also looking at how intraneural calcium dynamics correlate with action potentials.