Basic properties of electrical field coupling between neurons: an analytical approach.
The basic properties of the electrical field coupling between two parallel neurons, with linear electrical properties of the membranes, are investigated using a mathematical model-based on Laplace transform and matrix algebra, assuming that the system is unidimensional. This approach is extended to a ramified dendritic tree, and to a set of parallel neurons a subset of which is synaptically activated. We show that the electrical field effect is governed by certain geometrical and electrophysiological parameters, the most important being a coupling coefficient k, which depends on the extra- and intracellular resistivity, as well as the extracellular volume fraction. These results support the hypothesis that electrical field effects play an important role in the regions of the brain where neurons are densely packed, even in the absence of, or before, cell firing.
Costalat
Robert
R
UMPC Univ Paris 06, INSERM U678, F-75013 Paris, France. rcostala@snv.jussieu.fr
Chauvet
Gilbert
G