PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lee D. Ellis
AU  - W. Hamish Mehaffey
AU  - Erik Harvey-Girard
AU  - Ray W. Turner
AU  - Leonard Maler
AU  - Robert J. Dunn
TI  - SK Channels Provide a Novel Mechanism for the Control of Frequency Tuning in Electrosensory Neurons
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1106-07.2007
DP  - 2007 Aug 29
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 9491--9502
VI  - 27
IP  - 35
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/27/35/9491.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/27/35/9491.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2007 Aug 29; 27
AB  - One important characteristic of sensory input is frequency, with sensory neurons often tuned to narrow stimulus frequency ranges. Although vital for many neural computations, the cellular basis of such frequency tuning remains mostly unknown. In the electrosensory system of Apteronotus leptorhynchus, the primary processing of important environmental and communication signals occurs in pyramidal neurons of the electrosensory lateral line lobe. Spike trains transmitted by these cells can encode low-frequency prey stimuli with bursts of spikes and high-frequency communication signals with single spikes. Here, we demonstrate that the selective expression of SK2 channels in a subset of pyramidal neurons reduces their response to low-frequency stimuli by opposing their burst responses. Apamin block of the SK2 current in this subset of cells induced bursting and increased their response to low-frequency inputs. SK channel expression thus provides an intrinsic mechanism that predisposes a neuron to respond to higher frequencies and thus specific, behaviorally relevant stimuli.