"Inward rectifying potassium (KIR) currents in medium spiny (MS) neurons of nucleus accumbens inactivate significantly in ~40% of the neurons but not in the rest, which may lead to differences in input processing by these two groups. Using a 189-compartment computational model of the MS neuron, we investigate the influence of this property using injected current as well as spatiotemporally distributed synaptic inputs. Our study demonstrates that KIR current inactivation facilitates depolarization, firing frequency and firing onset in these neurons. ..."
Model Type: Neuron or other electrically excitable cell
Region(s) or Organism(s): Basal ganglia
Cell Type(s): Nucleus accumbens spiny projection neuron
Currents: I Na,p; I L high threshold; I T low threshold; I p,q; I A; I h; I K,Ca; I CAN; I A, slow; I Krp; I R
Genes: Cav1.3 CACNA1D; Cav1.2 CACNA1C; IRK
Model Concept(s): Action Potential Initiation; Ion Channel Kinetics; Action Potentials; Synaptic Integration; Delay
Simulation Environment: NEURON
Implementer(s): Steephen, John Eric [johneric at duk.ac.in]
References:
Steephen JE, Manchanda R. (2009). Differences in biophysical properties of nucleus accumbens medium spiny neurons emerging from inactivation of inward rectifying potassium currents. Journal of computational neuroscience. 27 [PubMed]