Network Functions and Plasticity: Perspectives from Studying Neuronal Electrical Coupling in Microcircuits

Network Functions and Plasticity: Perspectives from Studying Neuronal Electrical Coupling in Microcircuits focuses on the specific roles of electrical coupling in tractable, well-defined circuits, highlighting current research that offers novel insights for electrical coupling‘s roles in sensory and motor functions, neural computations, decision-making, regulation of network activity, circuit development, and learning and memory.

Bringing together a diverse group of international experts and their contributions using a variety of approaches to study different invertebrate and vertebrate model systems with a focus on the role of electrical coupling/gap junctions in microcircuits, this book presents a timely contribution for students and researchers alike.

Provides an easy-to-read introduction on neural circuits of the model systemFocuses on the specific roles of electrical coupling in tractable, well-defined circuitsIncludes recent discoveries and findings that are presented in the context of historical backgroundOutlines outstanding issues and future research in the field

1. Electrical Coupling in Caenorhabditis elegans Mechanosensory Circuits
2. Neural Circuits Underlying Escape Behavior in Drosophila: Focus on Electrical Signaling
3. Gap Junctions Underlying Labile Memory
4. The Role of Electrical Coupling in Rhythm Generation in Small Networks
5. Network Functions of Electrical Coupling Present in Multiple and Specific Sites in Behavior-Generating Circuits
6. Electrical Synapses and Learning–Induced Plasticity in Motor Rhythmogenesis
7. Electrical Synapses and Neuroendocrine Cell Function
8. Electrical Synapses in Fishes: Their Relevance to Synaptic Transmission
9. Dynamic Properties of Electrically Coupled Retinal Networks
10. Circadian and Light-Adaptive Control of Electrical Synaptic Plasticity in the Vertebrate Retina
11. Electrical Coupling in the Generation of Vertebrate Motor Rhythms
12. Implications of Electrical Synapse Plasticity in the Inferior Olive
13. Gap Junctions Between Pyramidal Cells Account for a Variety of Very Fast Network Oscillations (>80Hz) in Cortical Structures
14. Lineage-Dependent Electrical Synapse Formation in the Mammalian Neocortex