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Mechanotransduction, Models

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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

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Synonyms

Models of mechanoreceptive afferents

Definition

Computational models of mechanotransduction describe how somatosensory receptors respond to stimuli applied to the skin. There are two distinct approaches to this problem: (1) modeling skin mechanics and transduction and (2) modeling single neuron spike generation. The first type of model describes how the skin is deformed by a tactile stimulus and how this deformation leads to a neuronal response. These models of skin mechanics and transduction can be further divided into two distinct subcategories: those based on continuum mechanics and those based on finite element analysis. The second type of model focuses on the biophysics of spike generation in single neurons. It usually consists of two stages: a transduction stage and an integrate-and-fire (IF) stage. The transduction stage describes the conversion from skin deformation into a current injection into the neuron, while the IF stage simulates the generation of action...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA, USA

    Sung Soo Kim

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  1. Sung Soo Kim
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Correspondence to Sung Soo Kim .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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Kim, S.S. (2013). Mechanotransduction, Models. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_380-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_380-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

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