A genetic algorithm study on the influence of dendritic plateau potentials on bistable spiking in motoneurons

Abstract The necessity of dendritic plateau potentials for the generation of bistable spiking experimentally observed in vertebrate motoneurons was investigated in a minimal compartmental motoneuron model. Parameter regions where the model displays bistable behavior were computationally determined using genetic algorithms. Two fitness criteria were used to evaluate bistable behavior in the model: one using mathematically based techniques and the other experimentally based techniques. The performance of the GA depended on the fitness measure used but initial results confirm that bistable spiking is robustly generated when spike-generating currents are compartmentally segregated from plateau potential-generating currents with weak coupling conductance between the compartments.