Topic: phasic NE fluctuations

Norepinephrine (NE) is a neuromodulator that is released from projections of the locus coeruleus via extra-synaptic vesicle exocytosis (Fuxe, Borroto-Escuela, front. Physiol 2012). Previously, NE in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was thought to be a homogenous field created by bulk release, but it remains unknown whether phasic (fast, short-term) fluctuations in NE can produce a spatially heterogeneous field, which could then structure cell firing at a fine spatial scale. To understand how spatiotemporal dynamics of NE release in the PFC affect neuronal firing, we performed a novel in-vivo two-ph