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NJIT Mathematical Biology Seminar

Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 2:30pm
Cullimore Hall 611
New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Dynamics of medial entorhinal cortex layer II stellate cells receiving periodic\ and non-periodic inputs

Dongwook Kim

Department of Mathematical Sciences, NJIT

Stellate cells of the medial entorhinal cortex (layer II) display prominent intrinsic subthreshold oscillations at theta frequencies (4 - 12 Hz). These patterns are generated as the result of the interaction between a persistent sodium and a hyperpolarization-activated (h-) currents. Recent experimental results (Fernandez & White) show that when stellate cells receive Poisson distributed trains of combined excitatory and inhibitory synaptic conductance inputs, subthreshold oscillation are abolished, but they persist if they receive synaptic current inputs. In a different set of experiments and theoretical work, stellate cells have been shown to exhibit frequency preference to periodic inputs at both the sub- and super-threshold level. In this talk we review these experimental results and discuss a modeling approach to understand the underlying biophysical mechanisms. This is my Thesis Proposal Defense talk.