Chapter 1 - Electrotonic Models of Neuronal Dendrites and Single Neuron Computation

Abstract

This chapter focuses on different electrotonic models of neuronal dendrites and single neuron computation to reduce the number degrees of freedom. The areas that help in reducing the degrees of freedom include the importance for modeling studies of having good estimates of the electrotonic structure of a cell, the dynamic range of computational possibilities available to a neuron, by considering its possible resting states, assuming that a real neuron ever can be considered to be at rest, and variables that may be important for producing modification in dendritic spines. Dendritic models concerned with computation must make assumptions about the morphological and electrotonic structure of the neuronal dendrites. The dynamic range of computational possibilities for a neuron is immense.