Recent experimental results have shown that the detection of cues in behavioral attention tasks relies on transient increases of acetylcholine (ACh) release in frontal cortex and cholinergically driven oscillatory activity in the gamma frequency band (Howe et al. Journal of Neuroscience, 2017, 37, 3215). The cue‐induced gamma rhythmic activity requires stimulation of M1 muscarinic receptors. Using biophysical computational modeling, we show that a network of excitatory (E) and inhibitory (I) neurons that initially displays asynchronous firing can generate transient gamma oscillatory activity in response to simulated brief pulses of ACh. ACh effects are simulated as transient modulation of the conductance of an M‐type K+current which is blocked by activation of muscarinic receptors and has significant effects on neuronal excitability. The ACh‐induced effects on the M current conductance,
- Award ID(s):
- 1712922
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10062939
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- PLOS computational biology
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1553-7358
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- e1005349.
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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