A statistical analysis of dendritic morphology's effect on neuron electrophysiology of CA3 pyramidal cells

Changes in CA3 pyramidal cell morphology have a signi"cant e!ect on cell electrophysiology. Models of 16 pyramidal cells with uniform channel distribution were constructed from neuroanatomical data. Somatic injection of current produced distinct and di!erent "ring modes: spiking, bursting, and plateauing. Results show that the change in diameter as a function of the branch distance and path length from the soma is an indicator of "ring behavior. Spike rate signi"cantly correlated with dendritic length, surface area, bifurcations, terminations, and branch order. We conclude that dendritic morphology can signi"cantly in#uence the qualitative and quantitative electrophysiological behavior of neurons. ( 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.