NEURON mod files from the paper:

M. Migliore, C. Cannia, CC Canavier, A modeling study suggesting a
possible pharmacological target to mitigate the effects of ethanol on
reward-related dopaminergic signaling, J. Neurophysiol., in press
(2008).

We use a realistic computational model of dopaminergic neurons in vivo
to suggest that ethanol, through its effects on Ih, modifies the
temporal structure of the spiking activity. The model predicts that
the dopamine level may increase much more during bursting than
pacemaking activity, especially in those brain regions with a slow
dopamine clearance rate.  The results suggest that a selective
pharmacological remedy could thus be devised against the rewarding
effects of ethanol that are postulated to mediate alcohol abuse and
addiction, targeting the specific HCN genes expressed in dopaminergic
neurons.

Usage:

The file fig3.hoc reproduces the results shown in Fig.3 of the paper.

To start the simulation:

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Under unix systems:
to compile the mod files use the command 
nrnivmodl 
and run the simulation hoc file with the command 
nrngui fig3.hoc

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Under Windows systems:
to compile the mod files use the "mknrndll" command.
A double click on the simulation file
fig3.hoc 
will open the simulation window.

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Under MAC OS X:

Drag and drop the extracted folder onto the mknrndll icon. Drag and
drop the mosinit.hoc onto the nrngui icon.
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Once the simulation is running:

Each simulation (control, 50mM, 100mM) takes about 800sec of real time
and can be started by pressing the button so labeled.  After they are
run you should have a graph that looks like:



Questions on how to use this model
should be directed to michele.migliore@pa.ibf.cnr.it