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Commentary
Cell Science Reviews Vol 6 No 3
ISSN 1742-8130 |
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Neurogliaform cells in the neocortex still surprise and fascinate neuroscientists a hundred years on
Guillermo Gonzalez Burgos
Translational Neuroscience Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA.
Received 17th December 2009 © Cell Science 2010
Neurons typically send fast signals to their postsynaptic partners by rapidly activating receptors via the specialized ultrastructure of the synapses. Some neurotransmitter receptors, however, have an extrasynaptic localization and the source of transmitter for their activation is not clearly identified. A recent study of the signaling mechanisms by a specific subpopulation of cortical interneurons, the neurogliaform cells, shows that the neurotransmitter GABA released by these neurons is a physiological source of transmitter in the activation of extrasynaptic GABA receptors.
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