Action potential reflection and failure at axon branch points cause stepwise changes in EPSPs in a neuron essential for learning

In leech mechanosensory neurons, action potentials reverse direction, or reflect, at central branch points. This process enhances synaptic transmission from individual axon branches by rapidly activating synapses twice, thereby producing facilitation. At the same branch points action potentials may fail to propagate, which can reduce transmission. It is now shown that presynaptic action potential reflection and failure under physiological conditions influence transmission to the same postsynaptic neuron, the S cell. The S cell is an interneuron essential for a form of nonassociative learning, sensitization of the whole body shortening reflex. The P to S synapse has components that appear monosynaptic (termed 'direct') and polysynaptic, both with glutamatergic pharmacology. Reflection at P cell branch points on average doubled transmission to the S cell, whereas action potential failure, or conduction block, at the same branch points decreased it by one-half. Each of two different branch points affected transmission, indicating that the P to S connection is spatially distributed around these branch points. This was confirmed by examining the locations of individual contacts made by the P cell with the S cell and its electrically coupled partner C cells. These results show that presynaptic neuronal morphology produces a range of transmission states at a set of synapses onto a neuron necessary for a form of learning. Reflection and conduction block are activity-dependent and are basic properties of action potential propagation that have been seen in other systems, including axons and dendrites in the mammalian brain. Individual branch points and the distribution of synapses around those branch points can substantially influence neuronal transmission and plasticity.