Abstract
AbstractA theoretical model of electrical synapses is proposed, in which connexons play the role of “nails” that hold unmyelinated areas of neurons at a distance of about 3.5 nm, and the electrical connection between them is provided by charging the membrane of an inactive neuron with currents generated in the intercellular electrolyte (saline) by the action potential in the active neuron. This mechanism is similar to the salutatory conduction of the action potential between the nodes of Ranvier in myelinated axons and the ephaptic coupling of sufficiently close spaced neurons.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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