Abstract
The nucleus accumbens (NAc), the major subdivision of the ventral striatum plays an important role in the reward pathway. GABAergic Medium Spiny Neurons (MSNs) are the principal cell type of NAc. These neurons receive excitatory synaptic inputs over the numerous spines which are present on their complex dendritic arbours. Alterations in spine density and morphology can affect the integrative properties of MSNs. We developed a biophysically realistic, spiny model of MSN. We found that inclusion of spines in an existing aspiny model changed passive as well as active properties of the cell. The spiny model was tuned to match its properties with that of the earlier aspiny model. We found that a total of 192 inputs from middle and distal dendrites were required to generate a characteristic bimodal behaviour of the membrane potential. Using this model, we investigated the effect of loss of spines on the excitability of the cell. We found that with no spine loss, when only the number of activated inputs was reduced by 15%, spike frequency of the cell reduced to zero, rendering the cell completely inexcitable. However, spine loss of 15% along with 15% reduction in activated synaptic inputs decreased the spike frequency to 1.1 Hz. Our results suggest that when spines are lost along with synaptic inputs, excitability of the cell is not abolished completely, although this might happen when only synaptic inputs are lost. Instead, in such a case the excitability can be increased by slightly enhancing the input connections.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.