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Modèles multi-échelles et analyse asymptotique pour les synapses neuronales et les réseaux

Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In the present PhD thesis, we study neuronal structures at different scales, from synapses to neural networks. Our goal is to develop mathematical models and their analysis, in order to determine how the properties of synapses at the molecular level shape their activity and propagate to the network level. This change of scale can be formulated and analyzed using several tools such as partial differential equations, stochastic processes and numerical simulations. In the first part, we compute the mean time for a Brownian particle to arrive at a narrow opening defined as the small cylinder joining two tangent spheres. The method relies on Möbius conformal transformation applied to the Laplace equation. We also estimate, when the particle starts inside a boundary layer near the hole, the splitting probability to reach the hole before leaving the boundary layer, which is also expressed using a mixed boundary-value Laplace equation. Using these results, we develop model equations and their corresponding stochastic simulations to study vesicular release at neuronal synapses, taking into account their specific geometry. We then investigate the role of several parameters such as channel positioning, the number of entering ions, or the organization of the active zone. In the second part, we build a model for the pre-synaptic terminal, formulated in an initial stage as a reaction-diffusion problem in a confined microdomain, where Brownian particles have to bind to small target sites. We coarse-grain this model into two reduced ones. The first model couples a system of mass action equations to a set of Markov equations, which allows to obtain analytical results. We develop in a second phase a stochastic model based on Poissonian rate equations, which is derived from the mean first passage time theory and the previous analysis. This model allows fast stochastic simulations, that give the same results than the corresponding naïve and endless Brownian simulations. In the final part, we present a neural network model of bursting oscillations in the context of the respiratory rhythm. We build a mass action model for the synaptic dynamic of a single neuron and show how the synaptic activity between individual neurons leads to the emergence of oscillations at the network level. We benchmark the model against several experimental studies, and confirm that respiratory rhythm in resting mice is controlled by recurrent excitation arising from the spontaneous activity of the neurons within the network.
Source: HAL
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2351303135
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