AUTHOR=Forrest Michael D. 

TITLE=Intracellular calcium dynamics permit a Purkinje neuron model to perform toggle and gain computations upon its inputs

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/computational-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncom.2014.00086

DOI=10.3389/fncom.2014.00086

ISSN=1662-5188

ABSTRACT=<p>Without synaptic input, Purkinje neurons can spontaneously fire in a repeating trimodal pattern that consists of tonic spiking, bursting and quiescence. Climbing fiber input (CF) switches Purkinje neurons out of the trimodal firing pattern and <italic>toggles</italic> them between a tonic firing and a quiescent state, while setting the <italic>gain</italic> of their response to Parallel Fiber (PF) input. The basis to this transition is unclear. We investigate it using a biophysical Purkinje cell model under conditions of CF and PF input. The model can replicate these <italic>toggle</italic> and <italic>gain</italic> functions, dependent upon a novel account of intracellular calcium dynamics that we hypothesize to be applicable in real Purkinje cells.</p>