Models of Synaptic Transmission and Regulation

Abstract

Neurohormonal modulation and electrochemomechanical coupling in myometrium, as described in Chap. 1, involve a cascade of chemical processes including synthesis, storage, stimulation, release, diffusion, and binding of various substrates to specific receptors with activation of intracellular second messenger systems and the generation of a variety of physiological responses. Qualitative analysis and quantitative evaluation of the each and every step experimentally is very difficult, and sometimes practically impossible. Therefore, different classes of mathematical models of neurohormonal modulation and synaptic neurotransmission, ranging from the most comprehensive “integrated” – microphysiological – to “reductionist” – deterministic – have been proposed to study intricacies of the processes of neuroendocrine regulations. With microphysiological approach, attempts to reproduce reality in great detail lead to mathematically challenging and computationally demanding tasks. In contrast, deterministic models aim to capture accurately phenomenological behavior of the system. They not only provide macroscopic explanation of complex biophysical processes but are general enough to offer a coherent description of essential biochemical reactions within the unified framework. These models are inherently flexible and can accommodate spatiotemporal and structural interactions into a tractable representation.