Magnus Richardson: Rate dynamics for a minimal neuron model receiving spatially distributed synaptic drive

University of Warwick, UK

The ensemble firing-rate response to changing synaptic drive is a key predictor of emergent network states. Over the last few decades, this quantity has been analysed in mathematical detail for point-like isopotential models under various approximations of the stochastic synaptic drive that neurons receive in-vivo. The predictions for the population response to high-frequency modulations are known to be model dependent, dividing integrate-and-fire as well as other models of firing into distinct classes. In this talk, I will present an analysis of the spatiotemporal voltage dynamics for a neuron model comprising a long dendrite receiving filtered stochastic excitatory and inhibitory synaptic drive. These results are then used to examine how the cascade of synaptic, spatiotemporal and membrane filtering affects the firing-rate response in the upcrossing approximation. It will be seen that the rate response in this minimal model is only weakly filtered at high frequencies and, surprisingly, more sustained that the equivalent isopotential model. This work is in collaboration with Dr Robert Gowers.

 

Guests are welcome!

 

Organized by

Benjamin Lindner / Margret Franke