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NJIT Mathematical Biology Seminar

Note special date and time:
Monday, January 30, 2006, 12:15-1:00pm
Cullimore Hall 611
New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Using Experimental Methods and Mathematical Modeling to Determine the Position of Gap Junctional Coupling Between Two Neurons.

Diana Martinez, Matt Malej and Angelie Mascarinas

Department of Mathematical Sciences, NJIT, and
Federated Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers-Newark/NJIT

The existence of electrical synapses between neurons has been determined to play an important role in communication and network synchronization. The location of the gap junctional communication between neurons is of functional importance because of the complex neuronal morphology and the non-uniform distribution of voltage-gated ionic channels. However, accurately locating the gap junctions has been an elusive task. We performed intracellular recordings of two gap-junctionally coupled neurons in the crab Cancer borealis and examined signal transfer between these neurons using a variety of stimuli. We constructed a simplified mathematical model of the neurons to predict the location of the gap junctional coupling using the obtained experimental data.