Adaptation of Shape of Dendritic Spines by Genetic Algorithm

摘要

The role of dendritic spines in information processing of a neuron is still not clear. But it is known that they change their shape and size during learning processes. These effects may be important for storing of information (memory). We analyze the influence of shape variations on the electrical signal propagation in a group of dendritic spines by biologically realistic electrical simulation. In order to show the potential of shape changes a genetic algorithm is used to adapt the geometric parameters of the spine group to specific timing of incoming spikes. We can show that such a group of spines can do information processing like coincidence detection just by adjustment of its geometry.