Chklovskii, D. B., Stepanyants, A. (August 2003) Power-law for axon diameters at branch point. BMC Neuroscience, 4. ISSN 1471-2202
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Abstract
Background: Axon calibers vary widely among different animals, neuron classes, and even within the same neuron. What determines the diameter of axon branches? Results: We pursue the hypothesis that the axon caliber has evolved to minimize signal propagation delays, while keeping arbor volume to a minimum. For a general cost function, we show that the optimal diameters of mother and daughter branches at a bifurcation satisfy a power law. The derivation relies on the fact that the axon conduction speed scales as a power of axon diameter. Although available data are consistent with the law, there is a large spread in the data. Future experimental tests will determine whether this spread is due to biological variability or measurement error. Conclusions: Minimization of arbor volume and signal propagation delay may have been an important factor in the evolution of the brain.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | OPTIMIZATION |
| Subjects: | organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > axon |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | CSHL labs > Chklovskii lab |
| Depositing User: | Matt Covey |
| Date: | August 2003 |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Jun 2013 13:33 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Jun 2013 13:33 |
| PMCID: | PMC201017 |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/27980 |
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