www.neuron.yale.edu

Although I know it is best to connect 0 and 1 ends of neuronal sections, I am currently working with a model that consists of spines, which connect along the length of a dendrite.

With my modelled spines consisting of cylinders each for the neck and head, I wondered how the flat, circular face of the neck's '0-end' connects to the long, curved face of the dendrite?

I may be moving on from modelling membrane voltage onto modelling calcium diffusion, and feel this may have a particularly large effect.

Thank you in advance.

Very appropriate concerns.

Kristen Harris has done a lot of work on the morphology of spines and spiny dendrites at submicron resolution. Dig up her papers and check out http://synapses.clm.utexas.edu/harrislab. Then start to wonder if such notions as "flat" and circular apply.

You're definitely going to be interested in reaction-diffusion modeling. Robert McDougal has been working on getting that going with NEURON; look up reports of his collaborations with Lytton and/or Hines, and also see Reaction-diffusion tutorials on the Documentation page of NEURON's web site http://www.neuron.yale.edu/. Robert may also have some important tips to add to this thread, especially regarding how to translate submicron-resolution morphometric data from spines and dendrites into computational models.