Hippocampal synchronization in a realistic CA1 neuron model

TL;DR

This study investigates how synchronization occurs in realistic hippocampal CA1 neuron models with distributed excitatory synapses, analyzing the effects of various parameters on neuronal synchronization using Hodgkin-Huxley dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed neuron model with stochastic synaptic inputs and examines the influence of synaptic location and timing on synchronization.

Findings

Synchronization depends on inhibitory weight and synaptic delay.

Synaptic location along dendrites significantly affects synchronization.

Stochastic synaptic inputs modulate the synchronization behavior.

Abstract

This work delves into studying the synchronization in two realistic neuron models using Hodgkin-Huxley dynamics. Unlike simplistic point-like models, excitatory synapses are here randomly distributed along the dendrites, introducing strong stochastic contributions into their signal propagation. To focus on the role of different excitatory positions, we use two copies of the same neuron whose synapses are located at different distances from the soma and are exposed to identical Poissonian distributed current pulses. The synchronization is investigated through a specifically defined spiking correlation function, and its behavior is analyzed as a function of several parameters: inhibition weight, distance from the soma of one synaptic group, excitatory inactivation delay, and weight of the excitatory synapses.