Talk:Electrical synapse

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Electrical synapses between GABA-releasing interneurons. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2001 Jun; 2(6): 425-33. Galarreta M, Hestrin S.

Untitled[edit]

Although gap junctions were first demonstrated in the mammalian brain about 30 years ago, the distribution and role of electrical synapses have remained elusive. A series of recent reports has demonstrated that inhibitory interneurons in the cerebral cortex, thalamus, striatum and cerebellum are extensively interconnected by electrical synapses. Investigators have used paired recordings to reveal directly the presence of electrical synapses among identified cell types. These studies indicate that electrical coupling is a fundamental feature of local inhibitory circuits and suggest that electrical synapses define functionally diverse networks of GABA-releasing interneurons. Here, we discuss these results, their possible functional significance and the insights into neuronal circuit organization that have emerged from them.

Electrical synaps redirects here[edit]

Its AFD debate agreed there was nothing of worth in the article, and so I took the editorial decision to redirect it here. Johnleemk | Talk 16:01, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Request for improved lede[edit]

The lay reader who wanders here would be helped by understanding what processes electrical synapses were involved in and how/why ESs differ from chemical synapses in terms of function. Context like that belongs in the lede, IMHO. from a wandering lay reader DCDuring 17:08, 8 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There is a lot of wrong information on this page with regards to electrical synapses. For example, there is no synaptic delay. And the minimal delay at chemical synapse has been estimated at 60micro-seconds, not 2 ms. Also, there is more specificity, information exchange, plasticity etc at electrical synapses than this article makes believe. Somebody with an hour time on their hand should clean this up! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.73.217.46 (talk) 22:54, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I corrected the delay time information. If you see something isn't right, don't hide correct information in the Talk section, fix it in the main section.Lapabc (talk) 03:00, 1 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to add examples of electrical synapses in the reward system of the brain to the effects section of the article. Will do some more research before making any edits.--Blb6175535 (talk) 22:19, 29 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I studied this subject matter quite a while back. But I don't believe there is any meaningful entity known as an "electrical synapse." A synapse is a space between neurons, characterized by a gap. This is a gap enhanced by nature with ion channels to speed propagation. These neurons are in a biological soup and are not neatly laid out like a circuit diagram. I will do some more research but I was not aware of anything before now termed an "electrical synapse."The age of fable (talk) 05:48, 16 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Update: I did see such a term (electrical synapse) in use. It looks like it came from a textbook for undergraduates. It involves pores bigger than ion channels for swapping of various chemicals to aid charge propagation. I guess "electrical synapse" is more memorable than "that other kind of synaptic connection involving pores larger than ion channels."The age of fable (talk) 05:56, 16 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

"Too technical" template removed[edit]

Someone placed a header that the "article may be too technical for most readers to understand" back in 2011. The language here is no different from most neuroscience-oriented pages -- in my opinion it is actually *less* techinical than most. Compare biophysics pages and chemistry pages to this, the former are full of technical jargon and formulae while this page uses a minimum of jargon. If the overly technical warning belongs here it belongs in almost every other neuroscience page, which clearly cannot be right -- whoever placed it here never justified why. That template should never have been put onto this page in the first place, so it was removed. Lapabc (talk) 02:47, 1 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A good thing, removing the "too technical" template. This article is far from being technically accurate. The idea of a physical connection between neurons is quite misleading, if you don't know enough about what happens. Technically the ion channels create a physical connection. But the conductance is not caused by a flow of electrons as in a physically connected electrical circuit. The process is transference of potential to propagate electrical differential (a neuron is said to "fire" when the differential is high). This propagation of charges is much slower than electrical conductance. The ion channel evolution is nature's way of speeding up what is a comparatively slow process. So calling it an "electrical synapse" is more misleading than anything else, technically speaking. The age of fable (talk) 05:36, 16 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]