Simulation results showing the postsynaptic membrane receptor activity, which follows the release of neurotransmitters

From left to right are reported the time course of the neurotransmitter and the channel states , , , , and , the logarithm scale of them and a focus on the time course of , and . Each presynaptic stochastically generated corresponds to a wave of neurotransmitters whose duration and amplitude have been calculated on the basis of several hypotheses (see text). It can be observed the very short duration of the wave if compared to the slower kinetics of the postsynaptic activated channels. For each wave, the number of open channels is of the order of tens and it is also evident a buildup of the desensitization. The values of the kinetic rates were: = 400, = 1/6, = 86000, = 900, = 64, = 100000, = 2000, = 2000, = 250, = 100.<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Stochastic models for the in silico simulation of synaptic processes"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/9/S4/S7</p><p>BMC Bioinformatics 2008;9(Suppl 4):S7-S7.</p><p>Published online 25 Apr 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2367634.</p><p>