Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Investigation of Synaptic Tagging/Capture and Cross-capture using Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rodents
Published on: September 4, 2015
An intracellular Ca2+ subsystem as a biologically plausible source of intrinsic conditional bistability in a network
Christopher P Fall1, John Rinzel
1Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, 808 South Wood St., Room 578, M/C 512, 60612. fall@uic.edu
Abstract:
We have developed a firing rate network model for working memory that combines Mexican-hat-like synaptic coupling with intrinsic or cellular dynamics that are conditionally bistable. While our approach is in the spirit of Camperi and Wang (1998) we include a specific and plausible mechanism for the cellular bistability. Modulatory neurotransmitters are known to activate second messenger signaling systems, and our model includes an intracellular Ca(2+) handling subsystem whose dynamics depend upon the level of the second messenger inositol 1,4,5 trisphosphate (IP3). This Ca(2+) subsystem endows individual units with conditional intrinsic bistability for a range of IP3. The full "hybrid" network sustains IP3-dependent persistent ("bump") activity in response to a brief transient stimulus. The bump response in our hybrid model, like that of Camperi-Wang, is resistant to noise-- its position does not drift with time.
Related Concept Videos
The Role of Ion Channels in Neuronal Computation
Sometimes a single EPSP is strong enough to induce an action potential in the postsynaptic neuron. However, multiple presynaptic inputs must often create EPSPs around the same time for the postsynaptic neuron to be sufficiently depolarized to fire an action potential.
Feedback Regulation of Calcium Concentration
Various transmembrane receptors, such as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), elicit a response to extracellular signals by increasing cytosolic calcium. Activated GPCRs...
Calmodulin-dependent Signaling
The Ca2+-CaM complex does not have enzymatic activity by itself. Instead, the complex binds downstream target proteins, including membrane proteins or enzymes,...
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism
Neural Circuits
Neuronal pools are collections of nerve cells with similar functions and interact through chemical and electrical signals. These pools include both interneurons (the central neural circuit nodes that...
Storage

