Maryam Saidi; Seyed Mohammad Firoozabadi
Volume 13, Issue 4 , December 2019, , Pages 303-314
Abstract
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is affordable and easy to operate compared to other neuromodulation techniques. Despite this method is promising in treating neurological diseases and enhancing cognitive functions, the precise mechanism ...
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Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is affordable and easy to operate compared to other neuromodulation techniques. Despite this method is promising in treating neurological diseases and enhancing cognitive functions, the precise mechanism of the effect of this sub-threshold stimulation has not been understanded well. Understanding the mechanism is important in designing the proper protocol and system for the brain's electrical stimulation. The aim of this paper is to identify this mechanism with the neural modeling approach. As the results of some physiological studies have shown that under tDCS, sudden calcium signaling associated with calcium signaling of astrocyte cells in the brain are found, in the proposed model, this cell is considered as well as the main neurons and interneurons. The purpose of this model is to simulate the effect of tDCS on cortical activity related to the evoked response potential (ERP) and to compare with the actual results of previous experimental studies on rats. The results show that this model can simulate all the evidence of experimental studies, while the proposed purely neuronal model in previous studies could not simulate all the evidence.
Biological Computer Modeling / Biological Computer Simulation
Mahmoud Amiri; Fariba Bahrami; Mahyar Janahmadi
Volume 4, Issue 2 , June 2010, , Pages 83-96
Abstract
Based on the neurophysiologic findings, astrocytes provide not only structural and metabolic supports for the nervous system but also they are active partners in neuronal activities and synaptic transmissions. In the present study, we improved two biologically plausible cortical and thalamocortical neural ...
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Based on the neurophysiologic findings, astrocytes provide not only structural and metabolic supports for the nervous system but also they are active partners in neuronal activities and synaptic transmissions. In the present study, we improved two biologically plausible cortical and thalamocortical neural population models (CPM and TCPM), which were developed previously by Suffczynski and colleagues, by integrating the functional role of astrocytes in the synaptic transmission in the models. In other words, the original CPM and TCPM are modified to integrate neuronastrocyte interaction considering the idea of internal feedback proposed by Iasemidis and collaborators. Using the modified CPM and TCPM, it is demonstrated that healthy astrocytes provide appropriate feedback control for regulating the neural activities. As a result, we observed that the astrocytes are able to compensate for the variations in the cortical excitatory input and maintain the normal level of synchronized behavior. Next, it is hypothesized that malfunction of astrocytes in the regulatory feedback loop can be one of the probable causes of seizures. That is, pathologic astrocytes are not any more able to regulate and/or compensate the excessive increase of the cortical excitatory input. Consequently, disruption of the homeostatic or signaling function of astrocytes may initiate the hypersynchronous firing of neurons. Our results confirm the hypothesis and suggest that the neuronastrocyte interaction may represent a novel target to develop effective therapeutic strategies to control seizures.
