Relating ion channel expression, bifurcation structure, and diverse firing patterns in a model of an identified motor neuron

  • Authors:

  • Marco A. Herrera-Valdez;Erin C. Mckiernan;Sandra D. Berger;Stefanie Ryglewski;Carsten Duch;Sharon Crook

  • Affiliations:

  • Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, Cayey, USA 00736 and Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, Cayey, USA 00736 and De ...;Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, Cayey, USA 00736;School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA 85287;School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA 85287 and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Institute for Zoology/Neurobiology, Mainz, Germany 55099;School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA 85287 and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Institute for Zoology/Neurobiology, Mainz, Germany 55099;School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA 85287

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Computational Neuroscience
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

Neurons show diverse firing patterns. Even neurons belonging to a single chemical or morphological class, or the same identified neuron, can display different types of electrical activity. For example, motor neuron MN5, which innervates a flight muscle of adult Drosophila, can show distinct firing patterns under the same recording conditions. We developed a two-dimensional biophysical model and show that a core complement of just two voltage-gated channels is sufficient to generate firing pattern diversity. We propose Shab and DmNa v to be two candidate genes that could encode these core currents, and find that changes in Shab channel expression in the model can reproduce activity resembling the main firing patterns observed in MN5 recordings. We use bifurcation analysis to describe the different transitions between rest and spiking states that result from variations in Shab channel expression, exposing a connection between ion channel expression, bifurcation structure, and firing patterns in models of membrane potential dynamics.