Simulations of a phase comparing neuron of the electric fish Eigenmannia

Summary

• 1. Investigations of the jamming avoidance response in the weakly electric fish Eigenmannia have shown that the ‘small cell’, an identified cell type in lamina 6 of the torus semicircularis, can distinguish a brief time difference between the phase of externally applied sinusoidally varying electrical fields. Computer simulations were performed to determine what physiological and anatomical features of the small cell could permit this.

• 2. The small cell shows apparent inhibition despite having no identified inhibitory synaptic input. This effect was produced in the model using voltage-sensitive membrane channels. These permit an initial sub-threshold excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP) to increase the threshold to firing, preventing a subsequent EPSP from firing the cell.

• 3. Noise and conduction failure appeared to improve the range of cell responsivity. The addition of noise permitted a gradual change in cell firing with change in time disparity, allowing the cell to signal more subtle changes in disparity at the expense of decreased selectivity for a specific absolute time disparity.

• 4. The cell's multiple dendrites permit a 47% reduction in jitter for incoming signals. Other aspects of dendrite organization did not appear to contribute to the cell's precision.