Contribution of Branching Order of Dendrites to Morphology of Neural Cells

It is currently believed that the morphology of dendrites depends on two main factors, namely the material of the cytoplasm and the path length of the signal before reaching the soma. In the present work the branching order is introduced as a third factor; it represents the variation of electrical resistivity of different dendritic segments. A mathematical modification of the optimum cost function is applied. The software package TREES toolbox is employed to reconstruct several types of cells, specifically LPTC, HSS, HSN and starburst amacrine. The effectiveness of the present analysis is assessed by both the electrotonic and Sholl footprints. The results indicate a higher degree of matching between the synthesized reconstructions of these cells and their original morphology. Moreover, a reduction in the storage memory of their in silico morphologies is achieved.