3 research outputs found
Energy demands of diverse spiking cells from the neocortex, hippocampus, and thalamus
It has long been known that neurons in the brain are not physiologically homogeneous. In response to current stimulus, they can fire several distinct patterns of action potentials that are associated with different physiological classes ranging from regular-spiking cells, fast-spiking cells, intrinsically bursting cells, and low-threshold cells. In this work we show that the high degree of variability in firing characteristics of action potentials among these cells is accompanied with a significant variability in the energy demands required to restore the concentration gradients after an action potential. The values of the metabolic energy were calculated for a wide range of cell temperatures and stimulus intensities following two different approaches. The first one is based on the amount of Na+ load crossing the membrane during a single action potential, while the second one focuses on the electrochemical energy functions deduced from the dynamics of the computational neuron models. The results show that the thalamocortical relay neuron is the most energy-efficient cell consuming between 7 and 18 nJ/cm(2) for each spike generated, while both the regular and fast spiking cells from somatosensory cortex and the intrinsically-bursting cell from a cat visual cortex are the least energy-efficient, and can consume up to 100 nJ/cm(2) per spike. The lowest values of these energy demands were achieved at higher temperatures and high external stimuli.Authors received support from UFI11/07 of the UPV/EHU, SandS project EU grant agreement 317947, MECCO projects TIN2011-28753-C02-02, TIN2011-23823, which are partially funded by FEDER
Community structure in real-world networks from a non-parametrical synchronization-based dynamical approach
This work analyzes the problem of community structure in real-world networks
based on the synchronization of nonidentical coupled chaotic R\"{o}ssler
oscillators each one characterized by a defined natural frequency, and coupled
according to a predefined network topology. The interaction scheme contemplates
an uniformly increasing coupling force to simulate a society in which the
association between the agents grows in time. To enhance the stability of the
correlated states that could emerge from the synchronization process, we
propose a parameterless mechanism that adapts the characteristic frequencies of
coupled oscillators according to a dynamic connectivity matrix deduced from
correlated data. We show that the characteristic frequency vector that results
from the adaptation mechanism reveals the underlying community structure
present in the network.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures; Chaos, Solitons & Fractals (2012
Energy efficiency of information transmission by electrically coupled neurons
The generation of spikes by neurons is energetically a costly process. This
paper studies the consumption of energy and the information entropy in the
signalling activity of a model neuron both when it is supposed isolated and
when it is coupled to another neuron by an electrical synapse. The neuron has
been modelled by a four dimensional Hindmarsh-Rose type kinetic model for which
an energy function has been deduced. For the isolated neuron values of energy
consumption and information entropy at different signalling regimes have been
computed. For two neurons coupled by a gap junction we have analyzed the roles
of the membrane and synapse in the contribution of the energy that is required
for their organized signalling. Computational results are provided for cases of
identical and nonidentical neurons coupled by unidirectional and bidirectional
gap junctions. One relevant result is that there are values of the coupling
strength at which the organized signalling of two neurons induced by the gap
junction takes place at relatively low values of energy consumption and the
ratio of mutual information to energy consumption is relatively high.
Therefore, communicating at these coupling values could be energetically the
most efficient option