Abstract
A mathematical computer model of frog Purkinje cells is generated on the basis of presentday morphological and physiological data. The model utilizes passive cable equations and the Hodgkin & Huxley equations describing ionic conductances in excitable membranes. It comprises 62 compartments, the active and passive properties being specified independently for each compartment. The morphological properties of the model were obtained from computer reconstruction and direct observation of Golgi-stained Purkinje cells. Three forms of activation were utilized to test the adequacy of the model: (1) antidromic invasion, (2) orthodromic invasion via the parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse, and (3) climbing fiber activation. It was shown that the electrophysiological parameters available in the literature make it possible to construct a model capable of demonstrating most of the electrical properties of Purkinje cells, such as antidromic invasion and the ability to generate simple spikes and spike bursts. Questions such as the mechanism of generation of climbing fiber bursts were analyzed. The model may be used as a heuristic tool to help in the analysis and interpretation of electrophysiology and as a prototype element in the construction of more complex computer simulations of neuronal circuits.
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