Influence of dendritic topology on firing patterns in model neurons

Neuronal electrophysiology is in#uenced by both channel distribution and morphology. Distinguishing two sources of morphological variability*metrics and topology*we show that model neurons sharing the same channel densities and anatomical size can derive functional di!erentiation from their dendritic topology. Firing frequencies in these metrically reduced neurons show a strong correlation with both mean path length and total electrotonic transformed size of the dendritic tree. This dependency of spiking behaviour is robust to di!erent modes of stimulation, di!erent tapering powers, and the absence of active dendritic channels. ! 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.