Circuit modelling of 2-AG indirect pathway via astrocyte as a catalyst for synaptic self repair

Recent neurophysiological findings illustrate that the brain detects the faulty synapses and is able to repair them to some extent. It was shown that retrograde signaling via astrocytes leads to modulation of synaptic activity. Specifically, indirect signaling pathways of endocannabinoids modulate the synaptic transmission probability. Given these observations, this paper presents a novel analog circuit realization of the bio-inspired neuron-Astrocyte using analog elements which designed and simulated in LTSPICE simulator (Linear Technology SPICE simulator). This is based on the principle of retrograde signaling in the astrocyte-neuron network using astrocytic calcium dynamics. The simulation results of the analog circuit, demonstrate that 2-AG indirect signaling via astrocytes increases the probability of neurotransmitter release at the damaged synapses. This result indicates a promising approach toward a new class of adaptive, distributed computing systems in which self-repairing mechanism actively contributes to fault diagnosis and modification which also can be extended to neuronal networks.

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