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CA1 pyramidal cells have diverse biophysical properties, affected by development, experience, and aging

Neuron types (e.g., pyramidal cells) within one area of the brain are often considered homogeneous, despite variability in their biophysical properties. Here we review literature demonstrating variability in the electrical activity of CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells (PCs), including responses to somatic current injection, synaptic stimulation, and spontaneous network-related activity. In addition, we describe how responses of CA1 PCs vary with development, experience, and aging, and some of the underlying ionic currents responsible. Finally, we suggest directions that may be the most impactful in expanding this knowledge, including the use of text and data mining to systematically study cellular heterogeneity in more depth; dynamical systems theory to understand and potentially classify neuron firing patterns; and mathematical modeling to study the interaction between cellular properties and network output. Our goals are to provide a synthesis of the literature for experimentalists studying CA1 PCs, to give theorists an idea of the rich diversity of behaviors models may need to reproduce to accurately represent these cells, and to provide suggestions for future research.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/625990
Date19 September 2017
CreatorsMcKiernan, Erin C., Marrone, Diano F.
ContributorsUniv Arizona, McKnight Brain Inst, Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México, Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
PublisherPEERJ INC
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle
Rights© 2017 McKiernan and Marrone. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Relationhttps://peerj.com/articles/3836

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