Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
Volume 99, Issue 5, Pages 2320-2328Publisher
AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00280.2007
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Funding
- NIMH NIH HHS [MH 69838] Funding Source: Medline
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Over hundreds of design to maximize its functionality while minimizing costs associated with building and maintenance. This observation suggests that one can use optimization theory to rationalize various features of brain design. Here, we attempt to explain the dimensions and branching structure of dendritic arbors by minimizing dendritic cost for given potential synaptic connectivity. Assuming only that dendritic cost increases with total dendritic length and path length from synapses to soma, we find that branching, planar, and compact dendritic arbors, such as those belonging to Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, are optimal. The theory predicts that adjacent Purkinje dendritic arbors should spatially segregate. In addition, we propose two explicit cost function expressions, falsifiable by measuring dendritic caliber near bifurcations.
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