title: Intracellular calcium dynamics permit a Purkinje neuron model to perform toggle and gain computations upon its inputs.
abstract: 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 toggles them between a tonic firing and a quiescent state, while setting the gain 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 toggle and gain functions, dependent upon a novel account of intracellular calcium dynamics that we hypothesize to be applicable in real Purkinje cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Forrest
keywords: Purkinje; bimodal; cerebellum; computation; model; sodium-potassium pump; toggle; trimodal