TY - JOUR
T1 - Motoneuron model of self-sustained firing after spinal cord injury
AU - Kurian, Mini
AU - Crook, Sharon
AU - Jung, Ranu
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements Some of the results described here appeared previously in abstract form. Partial support for this work was provided by the National Institutes of Health R01-NS054282 and by the National Science Foundation through NSF IIS 0613404.
PY - 2011/11
Y1 - 2011/11
N2 - Under many conditions spinal motoneurons produce plateau potentials, resulting in self-sustained firing and providing a mechanism for translating short-lasting synaptic inputs into long-lasting motor output. During the acute-stage of spinal cord injury (SCI), the endogenous ability to generate plateaus is lost; however, during the chronic-stage of SCI, plateau potentials reappear with prolonged self-sustained firing that has been implicated in the development of spasticity. In this work, we extend previous modeling studies to systematically investigate the mechanisms underlying the generation of plateau potentials in motoneurons, including the influences of specific ionic currents, the morphological characteristics of the soma and dendrite, and the interactions between persistent inward currents and synaptic input. In particular, the goal of these computational studies is to explore the possible interactions between morphological and electrophysiological changes that occur after incomplete SCI. Model results predict that some of the morphological changes generally associated with the chronic-stage for some types of spinal cord injuries can cause a decrease in self-sustained firing. This and other computational results presented here suggest that the observed increases in self-sustained firing following some types of SCI may occur mainly due to changes in membrane conductances and changes in synaptic activity, particularly changes in the strength and timing of inhibition.
AB - Under many conditions spinal motoneurons produce plateau potentials, resulting in self-sustained firing and providing a mechanism for translating short-lasting synaptic inputs into long-lasting motor output. During the acute-stage of spinal cord injury (SCI), the endogenous ability to generate plateaus is lost; however, during the chronic-stage of SCI, plateau potentials reappear with prolonged self-sustained firing that has been implicated in the development of spasticity. In this work, we extend previous modeling studies to systematically investigate the mechanisms underlying the generation of plateau potentials in motoneurons, including the influences of specific ionic currents, the morphological characteristics of the soma and dendrite, and the interactions between persistent inward currents and synaptic input. In particular, the goal of these computational studies is to explore the possible interactions between morphological and electrophysiological changes that occur after incomplete SCI. Model results predict that some of the morphological changes generally associated with the chronic-stage for some types of spinal cord injuries can cause a decrease in self-sustained firing. This and other computational results presented here suggest that the observed increases in self-sustained firing following some types of SCI may occur mainly due to changes in membrane conductances and changes in synaptic activity, particularly changes in the strength and timing of inhibition.
KW - Motoneuron model
KW - Persistent inward current
KW - Self-sustained firing
KW - Spinal cord injury model
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U2 - 10.1007/s10827-011-0324-1
DO - 10.1007/s10827-011-0324-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 21526348
AN - SCOPUS:83055179774
SN - 0929-5313
VL - 31
SP - 625
EP - 645
JO - Journal of computational neuroscience
JF - Journal of computational neuroscience
IS - 3
ER -