A NOVEL THEORETICAL APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF DENDRITIC TRANSIENTS

A novel theoretical framework for analyzing dendritic transients is in troduced. This approach, called the method of moments, is an extension of Rall's cable theory for dendrites, It provides analytic investigat ion of voltage attenuation, signal delay, and synchronization problems in passive dendritic trees. In this method, the various moments of a transient signal are used to characterize the properties of the transi ent. The strength of the signal is measured by the time integral of th e signal, its characteristic time is determined by its centroid (''cen ter of gravity''), and the width of the signal is determined by a meas ure similar to the standard deviation in probability theory. Using the se signal properties, the method of moments provides theorems, express ions, and efficient algorithms for analyzing the voltage response in a rbitrary passive trees. The method yields new insights into spatiotemp oral integration, coincidence detection mechanisms, and the properties of local interactions between synaptic inputs in dendritic trees. The method can also be used for matching dendritic neuron models to exper imental data and for the analysis of synaptic inputs recorded experime ntally.