An antidromic impulse in an

axon An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action ...

refers to conduction opposite of the normal ( orthodromic) direction. That is, it refers to conduction along the axon away from the

axon terminal Axon terminals (also called synaptic boutons, terminal boutons, or end-feet) are distal terminations of the telodendria (branches) of an axon. An axon, also called a nerve fiber, is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that cond ...

(s) and towards the soma. For most neurons, their

dendrites Dendrites (from Greek δένδρον ''déndron'', "tree"), also dendrons, are branched protoplasmic extensions of a nerve cell that propagate the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the ...

, soma, or

axons An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action po ...

are depolarized forming an

action potential An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell location rapidly rises and falls. This depolarization then causes adjacent locations to similarly depolarize. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, ...

that moves from the starting point of the depolarization (near the cell body) along the axons of the neuron ( orthodromic). Antidromic activation is often induced experimentally by direct electrical stimulation of a presumed target structure. Antidromic activation is often used in a laboratory setting to confirm that a neuron being recorded from projects to the structure of interest.

References

Neurophysiology {{Neuroscience-stub

See also

References