Analysis of an excitable dendritic spine with an activity-dependent stem conductance

H. Y. Wu, Steven Baer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dendritic spines are the major target for excitatory synaptic inputs in the vertebrate brain. They are tiny evaginations of the dendritic surface consisting of a bulbous head and a tenuous stem. Spines are considered to be an important locus for plastic changes underlying memory and learning processes. The findings that synaptic morphology may be activity-dependent and that spine head membrane may be endowed with voltage-dependent (excitable) channels is the motivation for this study. We first explore the dynamics, when an excitable, yet morphologically fixed spine receives a constant current input. Two parameter Andronov-Hopf bifurcation diagrams are constructed showing stability boundaries between oscillations and steady-states. We show how these boundaries can change as a function of both the spine stem conductance and the conductance load of the attached dendrite. Building on this reference case an idealized model for an activity-dependent spine is formulated and analyzed. Specifically we examine the possibility that the spine stem resistance, the tunable "synaptic weight" parameter identified by Rail and Rinzel, is activity-dependent. In the model the spine stem conductance depends (slowly) on the local electrical interactions between the spine head and the dendritic cable; parameter regimes are found for bursting, steady states, continuous spiking, and more complex oscillatory behavior. We find that conductance load of the dendrite strongly influences the burst pattern as well as other dynamics. When the spine head membrane potential exhibits relaxation oscillations a simple model is formulated that captures the dynamical features of the full model.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)569-592
Number of pages24
JournalJournal Of Mathematical Biology
Volume36
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1998

Keywords

  • Bursting oscillations
  • Dendritic spines
  • Neuronal modeling
  • Synapse

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Applied Mathematics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Analysis of an excitable dendritic spine with an activity-dependent stem conductance'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this