Simulation of Pyramidal Cells Firing Types and Adjustment of Their Characteristics by Means of Transient Potassium Currents

Pyramidal cells of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) represent firing types with different latencies. They incorporate two transient potassium currents namely Ikif and Ikis with fast and slow inactivation gatings, respectively. Transient potassium currents i.e. currents having both activation and inactivation gatings influence on the latency before firing. These currents cause different neural responses containing a regular firing, or a long latency before firing with or without a leading spike. In this paper, the firing behavior of DCN pyramidal cells is simulated first with a 3-variable conductance-based model. Next, mechanisms underlie neural responses of the model are analyzed by dynamical systems analysis methods. The model is a reduced version of Kanold and Manis model with 10 variables.