Shunting is an event in the

neuron 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 ...

which occurs when an excitatory postsynaptic potential and an inhibitory postsynaptic potential are occurring close to each other on a

dendrite A dendrite (from Ancient Greek language, Greek δένδρον ''déndron'', "tree") or dendron is a branched cytoplasmic process that extends from a nerve cell that propagates the neurotransmission, electrochemical stimulation received from oth ...

, or are both on the soma of the cell.Kandel, E. R., Schwartz, J. H., Jessell, T. M. (2000) 981 ''Principles of Neural Science'' (Fourth ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 217, 223-225 According to temporal summation one would expect the inhibitory and excitatory currents to be summed linearly to describe the resulting current entering the cell. However, when inhibitory and excitatory currents are on the soma of the cell, the inhibitory current causes the cell resistance to change (making the cell "leakier"), thereby "shunting" instead of completely eliminating the effects of the excitatory input.

References

{{Reflist Neurophysiology

See also

References