Synaptic Interactions

Modeling synaptic interactions in network models poses a particular challenge. Not only should such models capture the important physiological properties of synaptic ifiteractions, but they must do so in a computationally efficient manner in order to facilitate simulations of large networks. This article reviews several types of models that address these goals. Synaptic currents are mediated by ion channels activated by neurotransmitter released from presynaptic terminals. Kinetic models are expressive enough to describe the behavior of ion channels underlying synaptic currents. Although full representation of the molecular details of the synapse generally requires highly complex kinetic models, we focus here on simpler kinetic models that are more computationally efficient. We show that these models can capture the time course and dynamics of several types of synaptic responses, allowing them to be useful tools for modeling synaptic interactions in large networks.