Neuronal plasticity: how changes in dendritic architecture can affect the spread of postsynaptic potentials

Calculations from a theoretical model are presented which illustrate the electrophysiological changes that can result from alterations in dendritic branching. Much evidence has implicated modifications in dendritic architecture with learning, aging and certain neural pathologies. It is found that both the peak amplitude and the half-width of a time-varying postsynaptic potential generated by a previously established synapse can be affected by dendritic changes distal to the input. For the examples considered in this paper peak amplitude is decreased if distal branching occurs, whereas half-width is increased.