www.neuron.yale.edu

Hi, I am trying to create a template of a cell class in hoc. The only variable that I am declaring as public is soma, which contains all of the channel mechanisms. When I create an object from the template in Neuron, it clearly only has a capacitor (i.e. Neuron is not "seeing" the channels inserted into the soma). Does anyone know how to fix this? Here is an abbreviated version of my code below:

A lot of effort is involved in writing a template from scratch, including much detail that seems quite artibrary, and there are many opportunities to make mistakes. Save yourself a lot of time and use the CellBuilder or the Network Builder, either of which is capable of exporting a correctly structured template that defines a new cell class.

"But I want to grow the cell (or specify its biophysical properties) algorithmically, and neither the CellBuilder nor the Network Builder lets me do that."

So construct a toy model cell with just a few sections and modest membrane properties, and export a cell class based on that. Then with that toy example as your starting point, use a text editor to add the stuff you want, one bit at a time and testing at each step, until you have accomplished your goal. Be sure to save the original exported template of your toy example, because it's a pattern that you can follow to create additional cell classes.

"But I really want to do all of this by writing code."

Don't worry, there'll be plenty of programming to do.-

I believe that I have solved the problem by including an init command in the template file: Now, after creating a new cell from this template, when I call the init() procedure, the cell clearly has access to the channels inserted into the soma.

Thanks Ted. I am now testing the template against the otherwise identical non-templated hoc file specifying the cell.