Formation of Dendritic Branching Patterns

J. van Pelt, B. P. Graham & H. B. M. Uylings, In: Modeling Neural Development (ed. A. van Ooyen), 2003, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 75-94

Abstract

Understanding the enormous diversity of neuronal shapes and their impact on neuronal function is a major challenge in neuroscience. Much experimental effort has been dedicated to the reconstruction of 3D neuronal morphologies, to the quantification of shape characteristics, and to the measurement of electrophysiological properties. Neurons attain their shapes as the result of a developmental process in which many cellular and molecular processes are involved. Understanding neuronal morphology therefore requires quantitative insight into these processes as well as a powerful framework for the description of morphology. This chapter reviews the different modeling approaches used in studying the morphology of dendritic branching patterns. Detailed examples are given of a stochastic dendritic growth model and models of intracellular mechanisms in neurite outgrowth.