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Hello All,

Please, i need some help in understanding how to connect an extra Biophysical (realistic) Neuron to the Izhikevich model. In relative detail, i would like to have the Izhikevich model as an input to my Neuron. In which case the Izhikevich model is my synaptic input. Eventually, i will like to extend this to networks .i.e. the network will have a defined number of connections as synaptic input to my detailed Biophysical Neuron. In addition, is it possible to utilize some instrumentation on Neuron to stimulate my Biophysical Neuron?

Thanks in Anticipation,

xmeson

Spike-triggered synaptic transmission is implemented by using an instance of the NetCon class to detect events ("spiking") in the presynaptic cell ("source") and convey them, after a specified delay, to a "target". The source may be an artificial spiking cell or a biophysical model cell. The target may be an artificial spiking cell, or a synaptic mechanism attached to a postsynaptic biophysical model neuron. If the latter, the NMODL code that specifies the properties of the synaptic mechanism must include a NET_RECEIVE block that dictates how the mechanism responds to an input event. NEURON has two built-in classes of synaptic mechanisms (ExpSyn and Exp2Syn), and several other kinds of synaptic mechanisms have been implemented including mechanisms that show stochastic behavior, use-dependent plasticity, Hebbian plastisticity etc..

A thorough introduction to representing synaptic transmission in NEURON is presented in chapter 10 of The NEURON Book. For detailed information about NetCon, ExpSyn, and Exp2Syn, and working examples of their use, see the Programmer's Reference, which is accessible via a link at http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/docs
It may also be helpful to read
Hines, M.L. and Carnevale, N.T. Discrete event simulation in the NEURON environment. Neurocomputing 58-60:1117-1122, 2004.
Brette, R., Rudolph, M., Carnevale, T., Hines, M., Beeman, D., Bower, J.M., Diesmann, M., Goodman, P.H., Harris, F.C.J., Zirpe, M., Natschläger, T., Pecevski, D., Ermentrout, B., Djurfeldt, M., Lansner, A., Rochel, O., Vieville, T., Muller, E., Davison, A., El Boustani, S., and Destexhe, A. Simulation of networks of spiking neurons: a review of tools and strategies. J. Comput. Neurosci. 23:349-398, 2007.
Hines, M.L. and Carnevale, N.T. Translating network models to parallel hardware in NEURON. J. Neurosci. Methods in press.
Preprints of all of these are available from http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/bib/nrnpubs.html