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Thalamocortical bistable switch as a theoretical model of fibromyalgia pathogenesis inferred from a literature survey
AbstractFibromyalgia (FM) is an unsolved central pain processing disturbance. We aim to provide a unifying model for FM pathogenesis based on a loop network involving thalamocortical regions, i.e., the ventroposterior lateral thalamus (VPL), the somatosensory cortex (SC), and the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). The dynamics of the loop have been described by three differential equations having neuron mean firing rates as variables and containing Hill functions to model mutual interactions among the loop elements. A computational analysis conducted with MATLAB has shown a transition from monostability to bistability of th...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - July 11, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Weight dependence in BCM leads to adjustable synaptic competition
AbstractModels of synaptic plasticity have been used to better understand neural development as well as learning and memory. One prominent classic model is the Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro (BCM) model that has been particularly successful in explaining plasticity of the visual cortex. Here, in an effort to include more biophysical detail in the BCM model, we incorporate 1) feedforward inhibition, and 2) the experimental observation that large synapses are relatively harder to potentiate than weak ones, while synaptic depression is proportional to the synaptic strength. These modifications change the outcome of unsupervised pla...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - June 29, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Decipher functional roles of synaptic plasticity and intrinsic neural firing in developing mouse visual cortex layer IV microcircuit
AbstractBetween the onset of the critical period of mouse primary visual cortex and eye opening at postnatal day 14 is a complex process and that is vital for the cognitive function of vision. The onset of the critical period of mouse primary visual cortex involves changes of the intrinsic firing property of each neuron and short term plasticity of synapses. In order to investigate the functional role of each factor in regulating the circuit firing activity during the critical period plasticity, we adopted the Markram ’s model for short term plasticity and Wilson’s model for intrinsic neuron firing activity, and constr...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - June 23, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Effect of cortical extracellular GABA on motor response
AbstractTo elucidate how the flattening of sensory tuning due to a deficit in tonic inhibition slows motor responses, we simulated a neural network model in which a sensory cortical network (\(\mathrm {N_S}\)) and a motor cortical network (\(\mathrm {N_M}\)) are reciprocally connected, and the\(\mathrm {N_M}\) projects to spinal motoneurons (Mns). The\(\mathrm {N_S}\) was presented with a feature stimulus and the reaction time of Mns was measured. The flattening of sensory tuning in\(\mathrm {N_S}\) caused by decreasing the concentration of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in extracellular space resulted in a decrease in the...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - June 13, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Evaluating the extent to which homeostatic plasticity learns to compute prediction errors in unstructured neuronal networks
AbstractThe brain is believed to operate in part by making predictions about sensory stimuli and encoding deviations from these predictions in the activity of “prediction error neurons.” This principle defines the widely influential theory of predictive coding. The precise circuitry and plasticity mechanisms through which animals learn to compute and update their predictions are unknown. Homeostatic inhibitory synaptic plasticity is a promising mechan ism for training neuronal networks to perform predictive coding. Homeostatic plasticity causes neurons to maintain a steady, baseline firing rate in response to inputs th...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - June 3, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Oscillations and variability in neuronal systems: interplay of autonomous transient dynamics and fast deterministic fluctuations
AbstractNeuronal systems are subject to rapid fluctuations both intrinsically and externally. These fluctuations can be disruptive or constructive. We investigate the dynamic mechanisms underlying the interactions between rapidly fluctuating signals and the intrinsic properties of the target cells to produce variable and/or coherent responses. We use linearized and non-linear conductance-based models and piecewise constant (PWC) inputs with short duration pieces. The amplitude distributions of the constant pieces consist of arbitrary permutations of a baseline PWC function. In each trial within a given protocol we use one ...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - June 2, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Numerical simulations of one- and two-dimensional stochastic neural field equations with delay
AbstractNeural Field Equations (NFE) are intended to model the synaptic interactions between neurons in a continuous neural network, called a neural field. This kind of integro-differential equations proved to be a useful tool to describe the spatiotemporal neuronal activity from a macroscopic point of view, allowing the study of a wide variety of neurobiological phenomena, such as the sensory stimuli processing. The present article aims to study the effects of additive noise in one- and two-dimensional neural fields, while taking into account finite axonal velocity and an external stimulus. A Galerkin-type method is prese...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - May 27, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Interneuronal dynamics facilitate the initiation of spike block in cortical microcircuits
AbstractPyramidal cell spike block is a common occurrence in migraine with aura and epileptic seizures. In both cases, pyramidal cells experience hyperexcitation with rapidly increasing firing rates, major changes in electrochemistry, and ultimately spike block that temporarily terminates neuronal activity. In cortical spreading depression (CSD), spike block propagates as a slowly traveling wave of inactivity through cortical pyramidal cells, which is thought to precede migraine attacks with aura. In seizures, highly synchronized cortical activity can be interspersed with, or terminated by, spike block. While the identifyi...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - April 19, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Selective neural stimulation by leveraging electrophysiological differentiation and using pre-pulsing and non-rectangular waveforms
AbstractEfforts on selective neural stimulation have concentrated on segregating axons based on their size and geometry. Nonetheless, axons of the white matter or peripheral nerves may also differ in their electrophysiological properties. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of selective activation of axons by leveraging an assumed level of diversity in passive (Cm& Gleak) and active membrane properties (Ktemp& Gnamax). First, the stimulus waveforms with hyperpolarizing (HPP) and depolarizing pre-pulsing (DPP) were tested on selectivity in a local membrane model. The default value ...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - April 13, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Local inhibition in a model of the indirect pathway globus pallidus network slows and deregularizes background firing, but sharpens and synchronizes responses to striatal input
AbstractThe external segment of globus pallidus (GPe) is a network of oscillatory neurons connected by inhibitory synapses. We studied the intrinsic dynamic and the response to a shared brief inhibitory stimulus in a model GPe network. Individual neurons were simulated using a phase resetting model based on measurements from mouse GPe neurons studied in slices. The neurons showed a broad heterogeneity in their firing rates and in the shapes and sizes of their phase resetting curves. Connectivity in the network was set to match experimental measurements. We generated statistically equivalent neuron heterogeneity in a small-...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - March 11, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Correction to: 30th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting: CNS*2021 –Meeting Abstracts
(Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience)
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - March 10, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Estimating anisotropy directly via neural timeseries
AbstractAn isotropic dynamical system is one that looks the same in every direction, i.e., if we imagine standing somewhere within an isotropic system, we would not be able to differentiate between different lines of sight. Conversely, anisotropy is a measure of the extent to which a system deviates from perfect isotropy, with larger values indicating greater discrepancies between the structure of the system along its axes. Here, we derive the form of a generalised scalable (mechanically similar) discretized field theoretic Lagrangian that allows for levels of anisotropy to be directly estimated via timeseries of arbitrary...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - February 19, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Extrinsic rewards, intrinsic rewards, and non-optimal behavior
AbstractThe optimality of behavior in experimental settings is usually determined with respect to an extrinsic reward defined by the experimenters. However, actions that do not lead to reward are ubiquitous in many species and in many experimental paradigms. Modern research on decision processes commonly treat non-optimal behaviors as noise, often excluding from analysis animals that do not reach behavioral performance criteria. However, non-optimal behaviors can be a window on important brain processes. Here we explore the evidence that non-optimal behaviors are the consequence of intrinsically motivated actions, related ...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - February 5, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Where are the cores in this thing? …and what are they computing? (with apologies to Larry Abbott)
(Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience)
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - February 4, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

A unified physiological framework of transitions between seizures, sustained ictal activity and depolarization block at the single neuron level
AbstractThe majority of seizures recorded in humans and experimental animal models can be described by a generic phenomenological mathematical model, the Epileptor. In this model, seizure-like events (SLEs) are driven by a slow variable and occur via saddle node (SN) and homoclinic bifurcations at seizure onset and offset, respectively. Here we investigated SLEs at the single cell level using a biophysically relevant neuron model including a slow/fast system of four equations. The two equations for the slow subsystem describe ion concentration variations and the two equations of the fast subsystem delineate the electrophys...
Source: Journal of Computational Neuroscience - January 15, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research