Burst firing transitions in two-compartment pyramidal neuron induced by the perturbation of membrane capacitance

Neuronal membrane capacitance C _m is one of the prominent factors in action potential initiation and propagation and then influences the firing patterns of neurons. Exploring the roles that C _m plays in different firing patterns can facilitate the understanding of how different factors might influence neuronal firing behaviors. However, the impacts of variations in C _m on neuronal firing patterns have been only partly explored until now. In this study, the influence of C _m on burst firing behaviors of a two-compartment pyramidal neuron (including somatic compartment and dendritic compartment) was investigated by means of computer simulation, the value of C _m in each compartment was denoted as C _m,s and C _m,d, respectively. Two cases were considered, in the first case, we let C _m,s = C _m,d, and then changed them simultaneously. While in the second case, we assumed C _m,s ≠ C _m,d, and then changed them, respectively. From the simulation results obtained from these two cases, it was found that the variation of C _m in the somatic compartment and the dendritic compartment show much difference, simulated results obtained from the variation of C _m,d have much more similarities than that of C _m,s when comparing with the results obtained in the first case under which C _m,s = C _m,d. These different effects of C _m,s and C _m,d on neuronal firing behaviors may result from the different topology and functional roles of soma and dendrites. Numerical results demonstrated in this paper may give us some inspiration in understanding the possible roles of C _m in burst firing patterns, especially their transitions in compartmental neurons.