Bursting, Networks, and Systems Neuroscience

Low-threshold calcium spikes, central pattern generation, thalamic rhythms, extracellular signals, vision, cortical oscillations, and basal ganglia.

Topics to Explore

The lectures explore networks and systems neuroscience. Related directions for further study include calcium signaling and alternative population models:

• Synaptic currents and intracellular communication.
• Central pattern generators; in-phase and anti-phase synchronization; escape vs. release; slow synapses and counter-intuitive synchronization results; gap junctional coupling; electrotonic properties of dendrites.
• Synaptic transmission; modeling of synaptic currents; ionotropic vs. metabotropic receptors; time constants and reversal potentials for AMPA, NMDA, GABA_A, and GABA_B receptors; drivers versus modulators; optical studies of individual synapses.
• Network properties and systems neuroscience.
• Thalamus: post-inhibitory rebound bursting; rhythmic bursting of thalamocortical relay neurons; complex interactions between excitatory and inhibitory burst-capable neurons; spindle waves in thalamic slice preparation; paroxysmal thalamic oscillations; role of thalamus in sensory gating.
• Cortex: four types of visually responsive cortical neurons; spike frequency adaptation.
• Basal ganglia: basic anatomy; action selection; pathology leading to Parkinson’s disease; deep brain stimulation as therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
• Population activity of neurons: synchronization and desynchronization of EEG and relationship between sleep/aroused states; place cells of hippocampus and relationship between spikes and theta waves; gamma oscillations in visual cortex during visual stimulation.
• Leaky integrate-and-fire neurons and rate-based population models as alternatives to Hodgkin-Huxley-style conductance-based models.
• Neuronal and cardiac calcium signaling.
• Basics of calcium signaling; pumps versus exchangers; the IP₃R and RyR; bell-shaped open probability curve of intracellular Ca²⁺ channels; fast Ca²⁺ activation and slow Ca²⁺ inactivation of intracellular Ca²⁺ channels.
• Modeling of calcium responses; excitability, bistability and oscillations; the action of thapsigargin and ionomycin in experiment and theory.
• Different types of propagating waves for bistable, excitatory and oscillatory media; localized calcium elevations such as calcium puffs and sparks; puff/spark-mediated saltatory calcium waves; dendritic calcium signals, including in synapses and dendritic spines.
• Cardiac excitation-contraction coupling; local versus global control of triggered calcium release; similarities and differences between neuronal and cardiac action potentials.

Lectures