Do conventional measures of intrinsic properties predict a neuron's behavior in a network?

Abstract

We pharmacologically isolated STG neurons by blocking neuromodulatory input from descending pathways as well as local glutamatergic synaptic contacts. We measured the intrinsic properties of four types of STG neurons: dorsal gastric (DG), gastric mill (GM), lateral pyloric (LP) and pyloric dilator (PD) neurons. Creating half-center oscillators in hybrid circuits Neurons may be classified based on their morphology, gene expression, innervation patterns, receptor expression, electrical excitability and more. Specifically, electrical excitability has been used to classify neurons based on the idea that these properties confer information about each neuron's functional role. It isn't clear, however, whether any or all of these electrical properties predict or correlate to a neuron's behavior in a circuit. We are therefore examining the following questions: -To what extent do traditionally measured intrinsic properties predict how a neuron will behave in a network? -Can we create a more functionally relevant measure of intrinsic excitability?