115 research outputs found
Optimal sizes of dendritic and axonal arbors in a topographic projection
I consider a topographic projection between two neuronal layers with
different densities of neurons. Given the number of output neurons connected to
each input neuron (divergence) and the number of input neurons synapsing on
each output neuron (convergence) I determine the widths of axonal and dendritic
arbors which minimize the total volume of axons and dendrites. Analytical
results for one-dimensional and two-dimensional projections can be summarized
qualitatively in the following rule: neurons of the sparser layer should have
arbors wider than those of the denser layer. This agrees with the anatomical
data from retinal and cerebellar neurons whose morphology and connectivity are
known. The rule may be used to infer connectivity of neurons from their
morphology.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Nature Neuroscienc
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