Cell-specific Modeling of Retinal Ganglion Cell Electrical Activity

Variations in ionic channel expression and anatomical properties can influence how different retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types process synaptic information. Computational modeling approaches allow us to precisely control these biophysical and physical properties and isolate their effects in shaping RGC firing patterns. In this study, three models based on realistic representations of RGC morphologies were used to simulate the contribution of spatial structure of neurons and membrane ion channel properties to RGC electrical activity. In all simulations, the RGC models shared common ionic channel kinetics, differing only in their regional ionic channel distributions and cell morphology.