Figure 1.
Properties of the model GP neurons. Nine model neurons were compared. A, They all shared the same morphology, which was reconstructed from a biocytin-filled rat GP neuron. They also shared the same biophysical parameters and ion channel densities with one exception: the density of the fast sodium conductance (gNaF) in the dendrites. B, For each of the gradient distributions, gNaF started at the somatic level of 500 pS/μm2 and approached a minimum of 5 pS/μm2 as an exponential function of distance from the soma. C, The differential dendritic gNaF patterns resulted in total summed dendritic gNaF levels ranging from 0.09 to 3.70 μS. D, The backpropagation of spontaneous action potentials was strongly affected by the dendritic gNaF expression level, but bAPs still reached the most distal dendritic tips at nearly 20 mV, even in the model neuron with the lowest gNaF level.