Extending Integrate-and-Fire Model Neurons to Account for the Effects of Weak Electric Fields and Input Filtering Mediated by the Dendrite.

ABSTRACT: Transcranial brain stimulation and evidence of ephaptic coupling have recently sparked strong interests in understanding the effects of weak electric fields on the dynamics of brain networks and of coupled populations of neurons. The collective dynamics of large neuronal populations can be efficiently studied using single-compartment (point) model neurons of the integrate-and-fire (IF) type as their elements. These models, however, lack the dendritic morphology required to biophysically describe the effect of an extracellular electric field on the neuronal membrane voltage. Here, we extend the IF point neuron models to accurately reflect morphology dependent electric field effects extracted from a canonical spatial "ball-and-stick" (BS) neuron model. Even in the absence of an extracellular

SUBMITTER: Aspart F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5125569 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature