These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: A hyperpolarizing neuron recruits undocked innexin hemichannels to transmit neural information in Caenorhabditis elegans.
    Author: Nakayama A, Watanabe M, Yamashiro R, Kuroyanagi H, Matsuyama HJ, Oshima A, Mori I, Nakano S.
    Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A; 2024 May 21; 121(21):e2406565121. PubMed ID: 38753507.
    Abstract:
    While depolarization of the neuronal membrane is known to evoke the neurotransmitter release from synaptic vesicles, hyperpolarization is regarded as a resting state of chemical neurotransmission. Here, we report that hyperpolarizing neurons can actively signal neural information by employing undocked hemichannels. We show that UNC-7, a member of the innexin family in Caenorhabditis elegans, functions as a hemichannel in thermosensory neurons and transmits temperature information from the thermosensory neurons to their postsynaptic interneurons. By monitoring neural activities in freely behaving animals, we find that hyperpolarizing thermosensory neurons inhibit the activity of the interneurons and that UNC-7 hemichannels regulate this process. UNC-7 is required to control thermotaxis behavior and functions independently of synaptic vesicle exocytosis. Our findings suggest that innexin hemichannels mediate neurotransmission from hyperpolarizing neurons in a manner that is distinct from the synaptic transmission, expanding the way of neural circuitry operations.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]