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Modelling the Cellular Mechanisms of Fly Optic Flow Processing

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The Computing Dendrite

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience ((NEUROSCI,volume 11))

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Abstract

Understanding the computational power of individual neurons is one of the major tasks in neuroscience. Complex calculations in dendrites and axons were identified in recent years in a great number of different systems. The small set of around 60 lobula plate tangential cells (LPTCs) in the fly visual system is a prime example where such computations and their underlying mechanisms are well understood. In this chapter we review recent findings resulting from detailed modelling studies based on experimental data from LPTCs. These studies have shown that the network connectivity is sufficient to explain the morphology of LPTCs to a large extent. Furthermore, an extensive network ubiquitously but highly selectively connects LPTC dendrites and axons with each other and is responsible for sophisticated optic flow calculations. The electrotonic features of LPTCs are affected by this network. We describe how a selective dendritic network between Horizontal System (HS) and Centrifugal Horizontal (CH) cells implements a specialised spatial filter operating on the moving images encoded in the dendrites. We also show how an axonal network renders the axon terminals of Vertical System (VS) cells in the fly selective to rotational optic flow. In summary, fly LPTCs are a prime example to show that the embedding and wiring within the network is crucial to understand morphology and computation.

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Acknowledgement

The work presented here was a collaborative effort together with Friedrich Förstner and Idan Segev.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Hermann Cuntz

  2. Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, Frankfurt/Main, D-60590, Germany

    Hermann Cuntz

  3. Department of Systems and Computational Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany

    Juergen Haag & Alexander Borst

Authors
  1. Hermann Cuntz
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  2. Juergen Haag
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  3. Alexander Borst
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hermann Cuntz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society & Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany

    Hermann Cuntz

  2. Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Michiel W.H. Remme

  3. Department of Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Benjamin Torben-Nielsen

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Cuntz, H., Haag, J., Borst, A. (2014). Modelling the Cellular Mechanisms of Fly Optic Flow Processing. In: Cuntz, H., Remme, M., Torben-Nielsen, B. (eds) The Computing Dendrite. Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience, vol 11. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8094-5_16

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