Information Transmission in a Neuron-Astrocyte Coupled Model

Jun Tang,Jin-Ming Luo,Jun Ma,Matjaz Perc

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080324

Jun Tang, Jin-Ming Luo + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080324

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Abstract

A coupled model containing two neurons and one astrocyte is constructed by integrating Hodgkin-Huxley neuronal model and Li-Rinzel calcium model. Based on this hybrid model, information transmission between neurons is studied numerically. Our results show that when the successive spikes are produced in neuron 1 (N1), the bursting-like spikes (BLSs) occur in two neurons simultaneously during the spikes being transferred to neuron 2 (N2). The existence of the astrocyte and a higher expression level of mGluRs facilitate the occurrence of BLSs, but the rate of occurrence is not sensitive to the parameters. Furthermore, time delay τ occurs during the information transmission, and τ is almost independent of the effect of the astrocyte. Additionally, we found that low coupling strength may result in the distortion of the information, and this distortion is also proven to be almost independent of the astrocyte.

Highlights

The number of the glial cells is several times larger than that of the neurons in most parts of the brain, few studies have focused on the effect of glial cells on neuronal behavior
Astrocytes participate in this synaptic transmission by responding to the glutamate in the synaptic cleft through calcium elevation; this elevation of Ca2+ above a certain threshold triggers the release of glutamate to the synaptic cleft [6,7,8,9]
To study the information transmission from neuron 1 (N1) to neuron 2 (N2), we let Ie1 = 10.0 mA/ cm2, and Ie2 = 0.0 mA/cm2, for which the persistent action potentials are generated in N1, but cannot be generated in N2 on its own

Summary

Introduction

The number of the glial cells is several times larger than that of the neurons in most parts of the brain, few studies have focused on the effect of glial cells on neuronal behavior. In the modeling study of astrocyte-neuron interaction, pyramidal cells and interneurons are often the focus [5,15,39,40]. Ignoring the effects of astrocyte and synaptic current, i.e., Iasx = 0 and Isx = 0, Iexw6.24 mA/cm2 is needed to generate persistent action potentials in the isolated H–H neuron.

Results

Conclusion