Difference between revisions of "Autapse"
From Eyewire
Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
<gallery mode=packed heights=250px> | <gallery mode=packed heights=250px> | ||
− | Image:Autapse.png | + | Image:Autapse.png| A dendrite self-touching seen in the 3D view of EyeWire |
File:N-Autapse.png| A large nub forming an autapse. | File:N-Autapse.png| A large nub forming an autapse. | ||
− | File:Mam711 autapse.png| | + | File:Mam711 autapse.png| An autapse found in EyeWire by player @Mam711. |
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
Revision as of 02:38, 29 March 2015
An autapse is a synapse that a neuron forms with itself. They have been hypothesized to serve as short-term analog memory storage.[1]
Strictly speaking, an autapse is a synapse from the axon of a neuron to one of its dendrites, that is, from its output to its input. However, structures have been found via Eyewire formed as a looped branch in a dendrite that may be either autapses or self-touches (i.e. not a synapse at all).[2] In EyeWire's 2D view, these generally appear to be branches that move away from the main branch, approach it again, but only touch again along a cell membrane.
History
Autapses have been known since at least 1972.[3]
References
- ↑ Seung, HS; Lee, DD; Reis, BY; Tank, DW (2000). "The Autapse: A Simple Illustration of Short-Term Analog Memory Storage by Tuned Synaptic Feedback", J. Computational Neuroscience 9:171-185. doi: 10.1023/A:1008971908649.
- ↑ Seung, Sebastian (March 20, 2012) Loops, Eyewire Forums
- ↑ Van der Loos, H; Glaser EM (1972). "Autapses in neocortex cerebri: synapses between a pyramidal cell's axon and its own dendrites", Brain Research 48:355-60. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(72)90189-8. Paywalled.