Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026

Electrophysiological Investigations of Retinogeniculate and Corticogeniculate Synapse Function
Published on: August 7, 2019
An analytical study of relay neuron's reliability: dependence on input and model parameters
Rahul Agarwal1, Sridevi V Sarma
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charels Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. rahul.jhu@gmail.com
Abstract:
Relay neurons are widely found in our nervous system, including the Thalamus, spinal cord and lateral geniculate body. They receive a modulating input (background activity) and a reference input. The modulating input modulates relay of the reference input. This modulation is critical for correct functioning of relay neurons, but is poorly understood. In this paper, we use a biophysical-based model and systems theoretic tools to calculate how well a single relay neuron relays a reference input signal as a function of the neuron's electro physiological properties (i.e. model parameters), the modulating signal, and the reference signal parameters. Our analysis is more rigorous than previous related works and is generalizable to all relay cells in the body. Our analytical expression matches relay performance obtained in simulation and suggest that increasing the frequency of a sinusoidal modulating input or decreasing its DC offset increases the relay cell reliability.
Related Concept Videos
Pilot and Numeric Relaying
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...
Integration of Synaptic Events
Distribution Reliability and Automation
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.
Design Example: Frog Muscle Response
When the switch connecting the RL circuit is closed, a brief muscle contraction is observed. This is because, at a steady state, the inductor acts like a short circuit,...
