Independent dendritic domains in the thalamic circuit
Compartment models of thalamocortical cells and thalamic interneurons of rat lateral geniculate nucleus were used to match whole cell patch recordings showing input impedances of 118.722.5 and 606.5220Mohms, respectively. As expected, simulation of continuous somatic current injection showed far less voltage drop-off to the distal dendrite as compared with previous studies based on sharp electrode recordings. However, simulation of more physiologically realistic high-frequency signals (action potentials and post synaptic potentials) showed substantial drop-off, suggesting the possibility of independent processing by dendrodendritic domains and emphasizing the importance of synchrony of incoming signals.
dendrite thalamus passive