Receptive field atlas and related CNN models

In this paper we demonstrate the potential of the cellular nonlinear/neural network paradigm (CNN) that of the analogic cellular computer architecture (called CNN Universal Machine | CNN-UM) in modeling different parts and aspects of the nervous system. The structure of the living sensory systems and the CNN share a lot of features in common: local interconnections ("receptive field architecture"), nonlinear and delayed synapses for the processing tasks, the potentiality of feedback and using the advantages of both the analog and logic signal-processing mode. The results of more than ten years of cooperative work of many engineers and neurobiologists have been collected in an atlas: what we present here is a kind of selection from these studies emphasizing the exibility of the CNN computing: visual, tactile and auditory modalities are concerned

Ultrastructure of neuropeptide-y immunoreactive elements in the superior Colliculus of cat

Whereas the presence of neuropeptide-Y (NPY) in the superior colliculus (SC) has been established, its participation in the ultrastructural organisation of the neuronal networks in the SC has not been studied. Accordingly, in the present paper light and electron microscopic NPY immunohistochemical studies were performed on the SC of cat. NPY fibres were found to be present predominantly in the superficial grey layer (SGL) of the SC, though a few small NPY cells were found in both the deeper and the upper layers. Ultrastructural observations revealed that the NPY nerve endings establish almost exclusively axo-dendritic synaptic contacts in the SGL of the SC. Thus, the presumably inhibitory impact of the NPY terminals is exerted through the dendrites of the SGL neurons, and not directly to the retinal axons, as thought previously