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The effect of cell size and channel density on neuronal information encoding and energy efficiency.pdf (1.2 MB)

The effect of cell size and channel density on neuronal information encoding and energy efficiency

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posted on 2023-06-07, 07:18 authored by Biswa Sengupta, A Aldo Faisal, Simon B Laughlin, Jeremy NivenJeremy Niven
Identifying the determinants of neuronal energy consumption and their relationship to information coding is critical to understanding neuronal function and evolution. Three of the main determinants are cell size, ion channel density, and stimulus statistics. Here we investigate their impact on neuronal energy consumption and information coding by comparing single-compartment spiking neuron models of different sizes with different densities of stochastic voltage-gated Na + and K + channels and different statistics of synaptic inputs. The largest compartments have the highest information rates but the lowest energy efficiency for a given voltage-gated ion channel density, and the highest signaling efficiency (bits spike -1) for a given firing rate. For a given cell size, our models revealed that the ion channel density that maximizes energy efficiency is lower than that maximizing information rate. Low rates of small synaptic inputs improve energy efficiency but the highest information rates occur with higher rates and larger inputs. These relationships produce a Law of Diminishing Returns that penalizes costly excess information coding capacity, promoting the reduction of cell size, channel density, and input stimuli to the minimum possible, suggesting that the trade-off between energy and information has influenced all aspects of neuronal anatomy and physiology.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism

ISSN

0271-678X

Publisher

Sage

Volume

33

Page range

1465-1473

Event location

United States

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-06-23

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-06-23

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-06-23

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