Internal KCN: Reduced but not diminished: single compartment OLM cell model capturing state-of-art complex model behavior and explaining theta resonance in OLM cells

Undergrad research project presentation  

Abstract: 

Conductance-based models have played an important role in the development of modern neuroscience. Mathematical models are powerful “tools” that enable theoretical explorations in experimentally untenable situations. With advances in cell imaging and computational power, multi-compartment models with morphological accuracy are becoming common practice. However, as much as details increase the biophysical accuracy, they also muddle interpretability. Thus, model reduction is necessary to find the balance between biophysical fidelity and understanding. A state-of-art multi-compartment oriens lacunosum-moleculare (OLM) neuron model was previously reduced to a single compartment, using current injection data as a basis for comparison. Here, we examined the biophysical fidelity of the reduced model by comparing analyses using it with those done using the full, multi-compartment model. The present work showed that the reduced model produces results that are comparable to that of the full model.  That is, it can capture both in vitro and in vivo complex behaviors of the original model, and most importantly, theta rhythm resonance, a defining feature of the OLM cell type.  Given this, we used the reduced model to show that h-channels could be responsible for preference to theta resonant frequencies.