"... To explore the relationship between conductances, and in particular how they influence the activity of motor neurons in the well characterized leech heartbeat system, we developed a new multi-compartmental Hodgkin-Huxley style leech heart motor neuron model. To do so, we evolved a population of model instances, which differed in the density of specific conductances, capable of achieving specific output activity targets given an associated input pattern. ... We found that the strengths of many conductances, including those with differing dynamics, had strong partial correlations and that these relationships appeared to be linked by their influence on heart motor neuron activity. Conductances that had positive correlations opposed one another and had the opposite effects on activity metrics when perturbed whereas conductances that had negative correlations could compensate for one another and had similar effects on activity metrics. "
Model Type: Realistic Network; Neuron or other electrically excitable cell
Region(s) or Organism(s): Leech
Cell Type(s): Leech heart motor neuron (HE)
Currents: I Na,p; I A; I K; I K,leak; I K,Ca; I Sodium; I Calcium; I Na, leak
Model Concept(s): Action Potential Initiation; Activity Patterns; Bursting; Temporal Pattern Generation; Detailed Neuronal Models; Parameter sensitivity; Conductance distributions
Simulation Environment: GENESIS
Implementer(s): Lamb, Damon [Damon.Lamb at neurology.ufl.edu]
References:
Lamb DG, Calabrese RL. (2013). Correlated conductance parameters in leech heart motor neurons contribute to motor pattern formation. PloS one. 8 [PubMed]