MODEL OF A THALAMOCORTICAL NEURON WITH DENDRITIC VOLTAGE-GATED ION CHANNELS

TO investigate the functional role of dendrites of thalamocortical neu rones, we have used our one-compartmental model to construct a multi-c ompartmental model with dendritic regions chosen according to a repres entative soma-to-dendritic terminal path of an X cell of the cat dorsa l lateral geniculate nucleus. The multi-compartmental model with dendr itic low-threshold Ca2+ and delayed rectifier K+ channels yields more accurate results than the one-compartmental model when simulating toni c firing and oscillatory activities, and provides a useful means for t he study of propagation of excitation on the dendrites.