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Emergent synchronous bursting of oxytocin neuronal network
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Rossoni, Enrico, Feng, Jianfeng, Tirozzi, Brunello, Brown, David, Leng, G. (Gareth) and Moos, François (2008) Emergent synchronous bursting of oxytocin neuronal network. PL o S Computational Biology, Vol.4 (No.7). doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000123 ISSN 1553-734X.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000123
Abstract
When young suckle, they are rewarded intermittently with a let-down of milk that results from reflex secretion of the
hormone oxytocin; without oxytocin, newly born young will die unless they are fostered. Oxytocin is made by magnocellular
hypothalamic neurons, and is secreted from their nerve endings in the pituitary in response to action potentials (spikes) that
are generated in the cell bodies and which are propagated down their axons to the nerve endings. Normally, oxytocin cells
discharge asynchronously at 1–3 spikes/s, but during suckling, every 5 min or so, each discharges a brief, intense burst of
spikes that release a pulse of oxytocin into the circulation. This reflex was the first, and is perhaps the best, example of a
physiological role for peptide-mediated communication within the brain: it is coordinated by the release of oxytocin from
the dendrites of oxytocin cells; it can be facilitated by injection of tiny amounts of oxytocin into the hypothalamus, and it
can be blocked by injection of tiny amounts of oxytocin antagonist. Here we show how synchronized bursting can arise in a
neuronal network model that incorporates basic observations of the physiology of oxytocin cells. In our model, bursting is
an emergent behaviour of a complex system, involving both positive and negative feedbacks, between many sparsely
connected cells. The oxytocin cells are regulated by independent afferent inputs, but they interact by local release of
oxytocin and endocannabinoids. Oxytocin released from the dendrites of these cells has a positive-feedback effect, while
endocannabinoids have an inhibitory effect by suppressing the afferent input to the cells.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QP Physiology | ||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Centre for Scientific Computing Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Computer Science |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Breastfeeding -- Mathematical models, Oxytocin, Neural networks (Neurobiology) -- Mathematical models | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | PL o S Computational Biology | ||||
Publisher: | Public Library of Science | ||||
ISSN: | 1553-734X | ||||
Official Date: | July 2008 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Vol.4 | ||||
Number: | No.7 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000123 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||
Funder: | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Great Britain) (BBSRC) |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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