Shunting Inhibition Does Not Have a Divisive Effect on Firing Rates
Abstract
Shunting inhibition, a conductance increase with a reversal potential close to the resting potential of the cell, has been shown to have a divisive effect on subthreshold excitatory postsynaptic potential amplitudes. It has therefore been assumed to have the same divisive effect on firing rates. We show that shunting inhibition actually has a subtractive effecton the firing rate in most circumstances. Averaged over several interspike intervals, the spiking mechanism effectively clamps the somatic membrane potential to a value significantly above the resting potential, so that the current through the shunting conductance is approximately independent of the firing rate. This leads to a subtractive rather than a divisive effect. In addition, at distal synapses, shunting inhibition will also have an approximately subtractive effect if the excitatory conductance is not small compared to the inhibitory conductance. Therefore regulating a cell's passive membrane conductance—for instance, via massive feedback—is not an adequate mechanism for normalizing or scaling its output.
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Unlike synaptically driven Vm fluctuations, changes in membrane conductance and depolarization cause lateral, or additive, shifts in the I/O transfer function of a neuron without changes in neuronal gain.
“Unlike synaptically driven Vm fluctuations, changes in membrane conductance and depolarization cause lateral, or additive, shifts in the I/O transfer function of a neuron without changes in neuronal gain57,58,60,61,83,84.”
From Mechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex (2020) · cites this paper as [84]
Temporally coincident changes in conductance state and synaptic fluctuations exert a powerful effect on neuronal gain at the single-cell level.
“Together, temporally coincident changes in conductance state and synaptic fluctuations exert a powerful effect on neuronal gain at the single-cell level57,58,60,61,83,84.”
From Mechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex (2020) · cites this paper as [84]
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- Authors
- Holt, G. R., & Koch, C.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, U.S.A.
- Venue
- Neural Computation
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 1997-07-01
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1001-1013
- ISSN
- 0899-7667 (ISSN-L)
- 1530-888X
- OpenAlex
- W2135370405
- Cited by
- 250
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 2.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neural Computation (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- 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, divisive normalization, firing rate, excitatory postsynaptic potentials, product inhibition
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cats, Electric Conductivity, Membrane Potentials, Models, Neurological, Neurons, Synapses, Pyramidal Cells
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