The location of the soma in higher invertebrates - bug or feature?

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The location of the soma in higher invertebrates - bug or feature? Janina Hesse1, 2 and Susanne Schreiber1, 2* 1 Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Germany 2 Humboldt Universitaet zu Berlin, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Germany The morphology of neurons in the central nervous system of higher invertebrates considerably differs from that of a typical mammalian neuron. Whereas in mammals dendrites and axon arise directly from the soma - often placing the soma into a central position of the space covered by the neuron - in insects the soma is "externalized": The soma connects to the axon and dendrites only via a thin process of several tens or hundreds of micrometers (the primary neurite) and is hence in a relatively peripheral position. Neurons with this morphological shape are unipolar. Their typical arrangement in ganglia allows the processes to meet in the center; somata are placed close to the surface of the ganglion. Whether the particular position of the soma - central or peripheral with respect to dendrites and axon - fulfills a functional role and provides mammals or invertebrates (or both) with specific advantages is unknown. Here, we explore several hypotheses how evolutionary constraints may have shaped neuronal morphology in insects and mammals. To this end, we use simple multicompartmental models which locate the soma either between axon and dendrites or at the end of a primary neurite, and analyze fundamental aspects of neuronal signaling, including the efficiency of orthodromic and antidromic action-potential propagation and metabolic cost. Acknowledgements This work was funded by grants from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany (01GQ1001A, 01GQ0901) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB618, GK1589/1). Keywords: compartmental modelling, morphology, neuronal shape, unipolar Conference: Bernstein Conference 2012, Munich, Germany, 12 Sep - 14 Sep, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Other Citation: Hesse J and Schreiber S (2012). The location of the soma in higher invertebrates - bug or feature?. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Bernstein Conference 2012. doi: 10.3389/conf.fncom.2012.55.00204 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 11 May 2012; Published Online: 12 Sep 2012. * Correspondence: Prof. Susanne Schreiber, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany, s.schreiber@hu-berlin.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Janina Hesse Susanne Schreiber Google Janina Hesse Susanne Schreiber Google Scholar Janina Hesse Susanne Schreiber PubMed Janina Hesse Susanne Schreiber Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.