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First published online September 9, 2003
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Neuromodulation in invertebrate sensory systems: from biophysics to behavior

John T. Birmingham1,* and David L. Tauck2

1 Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA
2 Department of Biology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA



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  		Fig. 1. Gain modulation and threshold shift. (A) The `gain' of a sensory neuron is the slope of the function relating firing rate to stimulus intensity. The gain associated with Function 1 decreases with increased intensity. The differential response {Delta}R1 to a small variation in stimulus {Delta}S decreases as the stimulus itself increases. Changing the shape of the curve (2) can be described as gain modulation. The response {Delta}R2 to the same {Delta}S and hence the gain is smaller at the given stimulus intensity. Shifting the response along the intensity axis (3) is better described as a shift in threshold. (B) Higher gain may limit the range of stimuli that can be described by a sensory neuron. Neurons described by Functions 1 and 2 both have a maximum firing rate Rmax. The gain for Neuron 1 is larger than that for Neuron 2 for stimulus intensities smaller than S0. Neuron 1 cannot unambiguously describe stimulus intensities larger than S0, because its firing rate has saturated and its gain has dropped to zero.

 

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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2003