Editing Inhibitory postsynaptic potential (section)

==Significance==

There are many applications of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials to the real world.  Drugs that affect the actions of the neurotransmitter can treat neurological and psychological disorders through different combinations of types of receptors, G-proteins, and ion channels in postsynaptic neurons.

For example, studies researching opioid receptor-mediated receptor desensitizing and trafficking in the [[locus coeruleus]] of the brain are being performed.  When a high concentration of agonist is applied for an extended amount of time (fifteen minutes or more), hyperpolarization peaks and then decreases.  This is significant because it is a prelude to tolerance; the more opioids one needs for pain the greater the tolerance of the patient.  These studies are important because it helps us to learn more about how we deal with pain and our responses to various substances that help treat pain.  By studying our tolerance to pain, we can develop more efficient medications for pain treatment.<ref name="interview">Williams, JT, Vollum Institute of Oregon Health Sciences University, Interviewed by Saira Ahmed, November 11, 2008</ref>

In addition, research is being performed in the field of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area, which deals with reward, and the substantia nigra, which is involved with movement and motivation.  Metabotropic responses occur in dopamine neurons through the regulation of the excitability of cells.  Opioids inhibit GABA release; this decreases the amount of inhibition and allows them to fire spontaneously.  Morphine and opioids relate to inhibitory postsynaptic potentials because they induce disinhibition in dopamine neurons.<ref name=interview/>

IPSPs can also be used to study the input-output characteristics of an inhibitory forebrain synapse used to further study learned behavior—for example in a study of song learning in birds at the University of Washington.<ref name="Person">{{cite journal | vauthors = Person AL, Perkel DJ | title = Unitary IPSPs drive precise thalamic spiking in a circuit required for learning | journal = Neuron | volume = 46 | issue = 1 | pages = 129–40 | date = April 2005 | pmid = 15820699 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuron.2004.12.057 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Poisson trains of unitary IPSPs were induced at a high frequency to reproduce postsynaptic spiking in the medial portion of the dorsalateral thalamic nucleus without any extra excitatory inputs.  This shows an excess of thalamic GABAergic activation.  This is important because spiking timing is needed for proper sound localization in the ascending auditory pathways.  Songbirds use GABAergic calyceal synaptic terminals and a calcyx-like synapse such that each cell in the dorsalateral thalamic nucleus receives at most two axon terminals from the basal ganglia to create large postsynaptic currents.

Inhibitory postsynaptic potentials are also used to study the basal ganglia of amphibians to see how motor function is modulated through its inhibitory outputs from the striatum to the tectum and tegmentum.<ref name="Wu">{{cite journal | vauthors = Wu GY, Wang SR | title = Postsynaptic potentials and axonal projections of tegmental neurons responding to electrical stimulation of the toad striatum | journal = Neuroscience Letters | volume = 429 | issue = 2–3 | pages = 111–4 | date = December 2007 | pmid = 17996369 | pmc = 2696233 | doi = 10.1016/j.neulet.2007.09.071 }}</ref>  Visually guided behaviors may be regulated through the inhibitory striato-tegmental pathway found in amphibians in a study performed at the [[Baylor College of Medicine]] and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The basal ganglia in amphibians is very important in receiving visual, auditory, olfactory, and mechansensory inputs; the disinhibitory striato-protecto-tectal pathway is important in prey-catching behaviors of amphibians.  When the ipsilateral striatum of an adult toad was electrically stimulated, inhibitory postsynaptic potentials were induced in binocular tegmental neurons, which affects the visual system of the toad.