HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

J Neurophysiol 99: 2320-2328, 2008. First published February 27, 2008; doi:10.1152/jn.00280.2007
0022-3077/08 $8.00

This Article Free upon publication Full Text Full Text (PDF) Corrected PDF All Versions of this Article: 99/5/2320    most recent 00280.2007v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Wen, Q. Articles by Chklovskii, D. B. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wen, Q. Articles by Chklovskii, D. B.

A Cost–Benefit Analysis of Neuronal Morphology

¹Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor; and ²Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York

Submitted 12 March 2007; accepted in final form 24 February 2008

Over hundreds of millions of years, evolution has optimized brain design to maximize its functionality while minimizing costs associated with building and maintenance. This observation suggests that one can use optimization theory to rationalize various features of brain design. Here, we attempt to explain the dimensions and branching structure of dendritic arbors by minimizing dendritic cost for given potential synaptic connectivity. Assuming only that dendritic cost increases with total dendritic length and path length from synapses to soma, we find that branching, planar, and compact dendritic arbors, such as those belonging to Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, are optimal. The theory predicts that adjacent Purkinje dendritic arbors should spatially segregate. In addition, we propose two explicit cost function expressions, falsifiable by measuring dendritic caliber near bifurcations.