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  • Title: Design for a binary synapse.
    Author: Sterling P, Smith RG.
    Journal: Neuron; 2004 Feb 05; 41(3):313-5. PubMed ID: 14766171.
    Abstract:
    The mammalian rod transfers a binary signal, the capture of 0 or 1 photon. In this issue of Neuron, Sampath and Rieke show in mouse that the rod's tonic exocytosis in darkness completely saturates a G protein cascade to close nearly all postsynaptic channels. A full-sized photon event supresses exocytosis sufficiently to allow approximately 30 postsynaptic channels to open simultaneously. Thus, the synapse behaves like a digital gate, whose hallmark is reliability and resistance to noise.
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