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Practical Aspects in Anatomically Accurate Simulations of Neuronal Electrophysiology

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Computational Neuroanatomy

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Abstract

When computer simulations are employed to investigate mathematical models of electrophysiology, the details of the implementation can heavily affect the numerical solutions and, thus, the outcome of the simulations. In computational studies based on detailed dendritic morphology, relevant implementation details include, among others, the discretization of time and space. In particular, the anatomical representation of complex dendrites into isopotential compartments presents challenging issues (often overlooked in published reports) in the numerical approximation of the cable equation and its derivatives. Here, we discuss these issues using examples taken from variations of a model of CA3 pyramidal cell electrophysiology based on realistic anatomy and biophysics. In addition, we describe existing and novel procedures to produce model compartmentalizations that ensure stable numerical solutions, with references to popular simulation environments such as NEURON. Finally, we provide an overview of existing computational tools aiding the representation, conversion, and simplification of dendritic morphology for electrophysiological simulations.

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Authors
  1. Maciej T. Lazarewicz
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  2. Sybrand Boer-Iwema
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  3. Giorgio A. Ascoli
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study and Psychology Department, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Giorgio A. Ascoli PhD

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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Lazarewicz, M.T., Boer-Iwema, S., Ascoli, G.A. (2002). Practical Aspects in Anatomically Accurate Simulations of Neuronal Electrophysiology. In: Ascoli, G.A. (eds) Computational Neuroanatomy. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-275-3_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-275-3_7

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-297-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-275-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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