Finite element model to study the effect of exogenous buffer on calcium dynamics in dendritic spines

Abstract

Dendritic spine plays an important role in calcium regulation in a neuron cell. It serves as a storage site for synaptic strength and receives input from a single synapse of axon. In order to understand the calcium dynamics in a neuron cell, it is crucial to understand the calcium dynamics in dendritic spines. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the calcium dynamics due to the exogenous buffers, in dendritic spines with the help of a sectional model. The compartments of dendritic spines are discretized using triangular elements. Appropriate boundary conditions have been framed. Finite element method has been employed to obtain the solution in the region for a two-dimensional unsteady state case. MATLAB 7.11 is used for simulation of the problem and numerical computations. The numerical results have been used to study the effect of exogenous buffers on calcium distribution in dendritic spines.