Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 7
Networks of Neurons
It has been well established that an individual neuron does very little in the way of information processing
or learning.The current hypothesis is therefore that it is the complex connections and interactions between
neurons that gives rise to the enormous range of functions and behavior of the brain. The first half of
this chapter will focus largely on the work of Roger Traub's research group on connecting thousands
of multicompartment neurons. The second half of this chapter will introduce some basic concepts of
artificial neural networks.
7.1 NETWORKS OF NEURONS
Previous chapters built up the theory necessary to create a multicompartment neuron with any complex
geometry as well as the connections between neurons at the synapse. This section will demonstrate how
many neurons may be connected together to perform some basic functions of networks of neurons.
7.1.1 TheTraub Pyramidal Neuron
Based upon experimental studies in slices of the rat hippocampus, Traub and Miles created a generic
Pyramidal neuron. A schematic of the neuron is shown in Fig. 7.1 and is composed of 28 compartments,
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Figure 7.1:
Traub pyramidal cell geometry.
divided into apical and basilar dendrites separated by the soma. The dendrites are modeled as passive
cables and the soma is modeled using the burstingmembranemodel described in Sec. 3.4.2. For a complete
description of the model, see
Neuronal Networks of the Hippocampus
by Traub and Miles (1991).
