Gain control of firing rate by shunting inhibition: Roles of synaptic noise and dendritic saturation
Open accessAbstract
Adjusting input–output gain is crucial for information processing by the brain. Gain control of subthreshold depolarization is commonly ascribed to increased membrane conductance caused by shunting inhibition. But contrary to its divisive effect on depolarization, shunting inhibition on its own fails to divisively modulate firing rate, apparently upsetting a critical tenet of neural models that use shunting inhibition to achieve gain control. Using a biophysically realistic neuron model, we show that divisive modulation of firing rate by shunting inhibition requires synaptic noise to smooth the relation between firing rate and somatic depolarization; although necessary, noise alone endows shunting inhibition with only a modest divisive effect on firing rate. In addition to introducing noise, synaptic input is associated with a nonlinear relation between somatic depolarization and excitation because of dendritic saturation; this nonlinearity dramatically enhances divisive modulation of firing rate by shunting inhibition under noisy conditions. Thus, shunting inhibition can act as a mechanism for firing rate gain control, but its modulatory effects (which include both divisive and subtractive components) are fully explained only when both synaptic noise and dendritic saturation are taken into account.
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Changes in the level of synaptically driven fluctuations in membrane potential may regulate the gain of the I/O curve for individual neurons.
“Changes in the level of synaptically driven fluctuations in Vm (also called synaptic fluctuations or synaptic noise) may regulate the gain of the I/O curve for individual neurons57–60 (but see REF.61).”
From Mechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex (2020) · cites this paper as [59]
This dynamic range can be adjusted through gain control mediated by the overall level of synaptic inhibition.
“In turn, this dynamic range can be adjusted through gain control that is mediated by the overall level of synaptic inhibition4,59,68,69.”
From Mechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex (2020) · cites this paper as [59]
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BackgroundRegulation of Cortical Dynamic Range by Background Synaptic Noise and Feedforward Inhibition
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Prescott, S. A., & De Koninck, Y.
- Affiliations
- Université Laval (CA)
- Neurobiologie Cellulaire, Centre de Recherche Université Laval Robert-Giffard, Beauport, QC, Canada G1J 2G3; and Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada H3G 1Y6
- ORCID
- Prescott, Steven A.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2003-02-04
- Volume
- 100
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 2076-2081
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC149961
- OpenAlex
- W1975302642
- Cited by
- 226
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 7.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › stochastic dynamics and bifurcation
- Keywords
- shunting inhibition, gain control, firing rate, synaptic noise, neuron models
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Dendrites, Synapses
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