Deliverables Cellular/molecular properties of particular importance at the microcircuit level The significance of the following cellular/molecular characteristics for the operation of microcircuits will be detailed: - Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying functional neural network activity. - Modular organization of functional neural networks. - Balanced inhibition and excitation during functional network activity. - Stochastic properties of neural activity in functional networks. Role of "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" modulation of network function The significance of the following forms of network modulation for the operation of microcircuits will be detailed: G-protein mediated modulation of cellular properties at the soma-dendritic or synaptic levels, metamodulation, action of metabotropic glutamate and GABA receptors, aminergic and peptidergic receptors. Types of synaptic transmission of importance at the microcircuit level The significance of the following synaptic characteristics for the operation of microcircuits will be detailed: Depressing, and facilitating synapses - fast synaptic interaction, gap junctions at soma-dendritic and axonal levels, slow synaptic transmission, retrograde dendro-synaptic modulation, paracrinic mechanisms and spill over. Comparison of microcircuits in action - intrinsic mechanisms of oscillations - differences and similarities To understand the CNS in cellular terms, the first level of complexity to reach for is the small multicellular "functional modules or networks" of the brain - exemplified by the microcircuits included in this proposal. The particular networks are chosen, because of their central importance in CNS function and because of recent successful research efforts combining progress in computational and experimental methodologies. Moreover, each partner laboratory has played a key role in this development. One particular objective is a comparison of the variety of molecular, cellular and synaptic solutions that are utilised to generate particular features of the pattern of activity in these networks with different functions along the neuraxis. The objective here is to explore to what an extent similar mechanisms are used in different networks to produce a given type of result (fast oscillation, burst termination, etc.). The purpose is to generate a "library" of different solutions to network pattern generation and to try to extract common principles. Modelling strategies at the cellular, microcircuits and global network level The importance of utilizing different modelling strategies for reaching an in-depth understanding of the operation of microcircuits will be discussed, with particular emphasis on realistic modelling of biological networks, based on detailed knowledge of ion channels, cellular properties and synaptic function and connectivity, as well as reduced versus very large simulations. Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
