Models
Purkinje Cell Tutorial
Investigate the properties of cerebellar Purkinje cells in an interactive demo. You can display the spatial or temporal evolution of any variable in the model. In the example below the calcium concentration in the dendrite during a complex spike is displayed, while the other window shows somatic and dendritic voltage over time.
A control panel allows you to design complex current injection protocols or to activate any synaptic input to the Purkinje cell whenever you want.
System requirements
Because of its graphical interface this tutorial is boring on slow machines. A good starting platform is a 200 MHz Pentium II computer running linux or equivalent. You will also need a graphical display with at least a resolution of 1024*768. Finally, you need to install GENESIS2.2 first.
Simulation scripts (version 1.3.2)
This tutorial is based upon a GENESIS simulation of a cerebellar Purkinje cell. An
introduction to this model can be found in
De Schutter (1994).
Complete technical descriptions as also illustrations of its behavior are in
De Schutter and Bower (1994a) and
De Schutter and Bower (1994b).
See for a complete list of publications about this
model.
The tutorial assumes that you have a basic knowledge of the Purkinje cell and its synaptic
inputs. It gives visual insight in how different properties as concentrations and channel
conductances vary and interact within a real Purkinje cell.
To explore the tutorial, do the following :
- Download the scripts Purkinje.tutorial1.3.2.tar.gz for this tutorial.
- Type: gunzip Purkinje.tutorial1.3.2.tar.gz
- Type: tar -xf Purkinje.tutorial1.3.2.tar
This will create a new directory Purkinje_tutorial. - Type: cd Purkinje_tutorial
- Make room for the graphical output: move your shell window to the lower right hand corner of your display.
- Type: TUTORIAL
GENESIS will start up and after a long initialization period, a window with a Purkinje cell and a control panel will appear. To move on, click the 'Help' button in the control panel. This will popup the on-line help window.