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Modeling the effect of dendritic input location on MEG and EEG source dipoles

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Abstract

The cerebral sources of magneto- and electroencephalography (MEG, EEG) signals can be represented by current dipoles. We used computational modeling of realistically shaped passive-membrane dendritic trees of pyramidal cells from the human cerebral cortex to examine how the spatial distribution of the synaptic inputs affects the current dipole. The magnitude of the total dipole moment vector was found to be proportional to the vertical location of the synaptic input. The dipole moment had opposite directions for inputs above and below a reversal point located near the soma. Inclusion of shunting-type inhibition either suppressed or enhanced the current dipole, depending on whether the excitatory and inhibitory synapses were on the same or opposite side of the reversal point. Relating the properties of the macroscopic current dipoles to dendritic current distributions can help to provide means for interpreting MEG and EEG data in terms of synaptic connection patterns within cortical areas.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants NS57500 and NS037462, and by The National Center for Research Resources (P41RR14075).

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  1. Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 149 13th Street, Rm 2301, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA

    Seppo P. Ahlfors & Christopher Wreh II

  2. Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02135, USA

    Seppo P. Ahlfors

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Ahlfors, S.P., Wreh, C. Modeling the effect of dendritic input location on MEG and EEG source dipoles. Med Biol Eng Comput 53, 879–887 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-015-1296-5

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