Plateau potentials, caused by persistent inward currents (PICs), are a type of electrical behavior seen in

neurons A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

Spinal cord

Plateau potentials are of particular importance to

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

motor systems. PICs are set up by the influence of descending

monoaminergic Monoaminergic means "working on monoamine neurotransmitters", which include serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and histamine. A monoaminergic, or monoaminergic drug, is a chemical, which functions to directly modulate the seroton ...

reticulospinal The reticular formation is a set of interconnected nuclei in the brainstem that spans from the lower end of the medulla oblongata to the upper end of the midbrain. The neurons of the reticular formation make up a complex set of neural networks i ...

pathways. Metabotropic neurotransmitters, via monoaminergic input such as

5-HT Serotonin (), also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a monoamine neurotransmitter with a wide range of functions in both the central nervous system (CNS) and also peripheral tissues. It is involved in mood, cognition, reward, learning, ...

and

norepinephrine Norepinephrine (NE), also called noradrenaline (NA) or noradrenalin, is an organic compound, organic chemical in the catecholamine family that functions in the brain and human body, body as a hormone, neurotransmitter and neuromodulator. The ...

, modulate the activity of dendritic L-type Calcium channels that allow a sustained, positive, inward current into the cell. This leads to a lasting

depolarisation In biology, depolarization or hypopolarization is a change within a cell, during which the cell undergoes a shift in electric charge distribution, resulting in less negative charge inside the cell compared to the outside. Depolarization is esse ...

. In this state, the cell fires

action potentials An action potential (also known as a nerve impulse or "spike" when in a neuron) is a series of quick changes in voltage across a cell membrane. An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell rapidly rises and falls. ...

independent of synaptic input. The PICs can be turned off via the activation of high-frequency inhibitory input at which point the cell returns to a resting state.

Olfactory bulb

Periglomerular cells Periglomerular cells mediate lateral inhibition in the olfactory system together with granule cells. They have inhibitory synapses on mitral cells and tufted cell Tufted cells are found within the olfactory glomeruli. They receive input from the ...

inhibitory An inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP) is a kind of synaptic potential that makes a Chemical synapse, postsynaptic neuron less likely to generate an action potential.Purves et al. Neuroscience. 4th ed. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates, Inc ...

interneuron Interneurons (also called internuncial neurons, association neurons, connector neurons, or intermediate neurons) are neurons that are not specifically motor neurons or sensory neurons. Interneurons are the central nodes of neural circuits, enab ...

s that surround and innervate olfactory glomeruli, have also been shown to exhibit plateau potentials.

Cortex and hippocampus

Plateau potentials are also seen in the cortical, and hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Using iontophoretic, or two-photon glutamate uncaging experiments, it has been discovered that these plateau potentials include activities of voltage dependent calcium channels and NMDA receptors.

References

Electrophysiology Action potentials {{neuroscience-stub