Full-scale point-neuron model of the mouse hippocampal microcircuits

The modelling of neural circuits with single cell resolution is progressively becoming a reliable benchmark to simulate the neurophysiological correlates of brain activity and to investigate brain dysfunctions. The physiological and pathological conditions in fact can be explored through single neuron models that can simulate the salient electrophysiological properties of biological neurons. One of the main issues of the realistic modelling of brain circuits is related to the connection strategy: to properly define the network connectome it is of utmost importance to take into account morpho-anatomical constraints dictated by neuronal cito-architecture. We have developed a strategy to generate realistic neuronal networks with single-cell resolution based on the creation of geometrical probability density functions mimicking extension and orientation of neuronal axons and dendrites. The first benchmark of the modelling pipeline allowed to create a full-scale point neuron model of the mouse CA1 hippocampus. The modelling strategy has been applied to the CA3 region of the mouse hippocampus allowing to generate a full network with limited computational costs suggesting that the present approach can be reliably translated to other brain areas.