A neuron's molecular clock: NMDA timing shapes the flow of information

In the brain, what matters is not only whether a signal reaches a nerve cell, but also how long its chemical gate remains open. A team led by Dr. Mehdi Borjkhani from the International Centre for Translational Eye Research (ICTER) has demonstrated in a computational model that both excessively fast and excessively slow NMDA-receptor deactivation can disrupt neuronal activity. Importantly, these extremes in cessation rates lead to instability through two distinct mechanisms.