Generalized Stein's model for anatomically complex neurons.

Abstract

A neuron with a large dendritic structure is considered. The number of synapses located on the dendrites is substantially higher than on the soma. The synaptic input effect on the neuronal excitability decreases with distance between a synapse ending and the trigger zone. Two areas are distinguished in accordance with the effect of synaptic input--dendritic and somatic. The dendritic area, when compared to the soma, is characterized by much higher intensity of its activation but the amplitudes of synaptically evoked changes of the membrane potential at the trigger zone are in general small. This situation is suitable for a diffusion approximation. However, on the soma, especially in the proximity of the trigger zone, the membrane potential changes are a large fraction of the threshold depolarization. The membrane potential at the trigger zone is modelled by a one-dimensional stochastic process. The diffusion Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process serves as a basis of the model; however, at the moments of somatic synapses activation its voltage changes in jumps. Their sizes represent the amplitudes of the evoked postsynaptic potentials. The unimodal histograms of interspike intervals can be explained by the model. The values of the coefficient of variation greater than one are connected with substantial inhibition.