Neural Computation: Modeling the Neural Basis of Blood Pressure Control

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9311388 Schwaber This is a proposal to study the role of nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) neurons in the transformation and integration of baroreceptor input as part of the system that controls blood pressure. The project is very important because it provides a first step towards understanding the neural basis of blood pressure control. The work is motivated by the striking observation that single baroreceptive NTS neurons do not reproduce their baroreceptor input pattern, and appear to have nonlinear responses to changes in arterial pressure. These findings suggest that NTS neuron responses are produced by active membrane responses to baroreceptor inputs. The plan of work follows a logical progression: in vivo recording of synaptic inputs and postsynaptic responses of NTS neurons, followed by construction of neuronal and network models of NTS neurons to test whether the experimental data can account for the neurons' responses. These computational models will be implemented on a parallel computing platform.***