Neuronal Networks of the Hippocampus

Abstract

The questions of how a large population of neurons in the brain functions, how synchronized firing of neurons is achieved, and what factors regulate how many and which neurons fire under different conditions form the central theme of this book. Using a combined experimental-theoretical approach unique in neuroscience, the authors present important techniques for the physiological reconstruction of a large biological neuronal network. They begin by discussing experimental studies of the CA3 hippocampal region in vitro, focusing on single-cell and synaptic electrophysiology, particularly the effects a single neuron exerts on its neighbours. This is followed by a description of a computer model of the system, first for individual cells then for the entire detailed network, and the model is compared with experiments under a variety of conditions. The results shed significant light into the mechanisms of epilepsy, electroencephalograms, and biological oscillations and provide an excellent test case for theories of neural networks. Researchers in neurophysiology and physiological psychology, physicians concerned with epilepsy and related disorders, and researchers in computational neuroscience will find this book an invaluable resource.

Mifepristone Repairs Region-Dependent Alteration of Synapsin I in Hippocampus in Rat Model of Depression

“…pathways of the hippocampus are the perforant path, the cingulum bundle, and the fimbria/fornix, which all arise from field CA1 and the subiculum (Traub and Miles, 1991;Magarinos et al, 1996). In this study, we found that synapsin I increased in DG/CA3 and decreased in CA1 region, suggesting that synaptic activity is excited within the hippocampal network and the output from the hippocampus is weakened in rats after 21 days of CUMS.…”

Spikes, synchrony, and attentive learning by laminar thalamocortical circuits

“…4.5 Ionic currents. Potassium (K + ) and Sodium (Na ++ ) currents I k and I Na in (1) are derived from Traub and Miles (2001), and are described as: (26) neurons (McCormick and Prince, 1985), and rat cortical layer 5 cells seem to be a preferential target for cholinergic innervation (Turrini et al, 2001). The known electrophysiological excitatory action is thought to be mediated by binding of ACh to muscarinic and/or nicotinic receptors on pyramidal neurons.…”

Activated cortical states: Experiments, analyses and models

“…m, h, and n are the activation variables whose time evolution depends on the (voltage-dependent) rate constants a m , b m , a h , b h , a n and b n . The voltagedependent expressions for the rate constants were modified from the model described by Traub and Miles (1991):…”