Phasic Firing and Coincidence Detection by Subthreshold Negative Feedback: Divisive or Subtractive or, Better, Both.

ABSTRACT: Phasic neurons typically fire only for a fast-rising input, say at the onset of a step current, but not for steady or slow inputs, a property associated with type III excitability. Phasic neurons can show extraordinary temporal precision for phase locking and coincidence detection. Exemplars are found in the auditory brain stem where precise timing is used in sound localization. Phasicness at the cellular level arises from a dynamic, voltage-gated, negative feedback that can be recruited subthreshold, preventing the neuron from reaching spike threshold if the voltage does not rise fast enough. We consider two mechanisms for phasicness: a low threshold potassium current (subtractive mechanism) and a sodium current with subthreshold inactivation (divisive mechanism). We develop and analyze t

SUBMITTER: Huguet G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5288357 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature