| | Models | Description |
| 1. |
A network of AOB mitral cells that produces infra-slow bursting (Zylbertal et al. 2017)
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Infra-slow rhythmic neuronal activity with very long (> 10 s) period duration was described in many brain areas but little is known about the role of this activity and the mechanisms that produce it. Here we combine experimental and computational methods to show that synchronous infra-slow bursting activity in mitral cells of the mouse accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) emerges from interplay between intracellular dynamics and network connectivity. In this novel mechanism, slow intracellular Na+ dynamics endow AOB mitral cells with a weak tendency to burst, which is further enhanced and stabilized by chemical and electrical synapses between them. Combined with the unique topology of the AOB network, infra-slow bursting enables integration and binding of multiple chemosensory stimuli over prolonged time scale.
The example protocol simulates a two-glomeruli network with a single shared cell. Although each glomerulus is stimulated at a different time point, the activity of the entire population becomes synchronous (see paper Fig. 8) |
| 2. |
Escape response latency in the Giant Fiber System of Drosophila melanogastor (Augustin et al 2019)
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"The Giant Fiber System (GFS) is a multi-component neuronal pathway mediating rapid escape response in the adult fruit-fly Drosophila melanogaster, usually in the face of a threatening visual stimulus. Two branches of the circuit promote the response by stimulating an escape jump followed by flight initiation. Our recent work demonstrated an age-associated decline in the speed of signal propagation through the circuit, measured as the stimulus-to-muscle depolarization response latency. The decline is likely due to the diminishing number of inter-neuronal gap junctions in the GFS of ageing flies. In this work, we presented a realistic conductance-based, computational model of the GFS that recapitulates our experimental results and identifies some of the critical anatomical and physiological components governing the circuit's response latency. According to our model, anatomical properties of the GFS neurons have a stronger impact on the transmission than neuronal membrane conductance densities. The model provides testable predictions for the effect of experimental interventions on the circuit's performance in young and ageing flies." |
