| Abstract: |
| Dendritic spines are small protrusions that stud the dendritic shaft of different neurons in the brain, including the retina. They are considered to be an important locus for plastic changes underlying memory and learning processes. In addition, neurological and psychiatric disorders are accompanied by pathological alterations in spine morphology and spine density. Spines exist in great numbers: e.g., over 200,000 spines per neuron on Purkinje cells. Continuum spine theory applies when a dendritic cable is populated by a large number of spines and the interspine distance is much less than the length scale of the cable. In this talk, continuum spine modeling is used to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of spine restructuring and spine population dynamics. Next, we show how the continuum approach can be generalized to formulate a multiscale continuum model of the neural subcircuits in the vertebrate outer retina. We conclude by introducing a new continuum model for the distribution of branches, rather than spines, over the primary neurite of the Drosophila MN5 motorneuron. |
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