NYU/CNS : Faculty : Core Faculty : Alex D. Reyes

In a neural network, the firing of each neuron reflects the integrated activity of its many presynaptic neurons. Small unitary postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) generated by presynaptic action potentials are summed and the resultant composite PSP is transduced into firing by various ionic conductances. The overall aim of my research is to examine information processing in single cells and in neural networks. The goal is to develop a quantitative description of: 1) the transform between parameters of PSPs and neuronal firing; and 2) the functional interactions of neurons in a network.

My laboratory will examine these issues using an in vitro brain slice preparation. Whole-cell recordings will be performed simultaneously from 3-5 interconnected neurones to determine how the spread of excitation in a network depends on: 1) the anatomical connections between different cell types; 2) the number, size, shape, and sign of underlying PSPs; and 3) the timing of presynaptic action potentials. Secondly, whole-cell recordings will be performed simultaneously in different compartments of a single neuron the site of synaptic contact, transformed as it propagates to the soma, and eventually transduced into action potentials. Under computer control, stimuli that mimic naturally occuring synaptic events will be delivered intracellularly at the dendrites and somata of neurons. These experiments will assess how neuronal firing depends on the ionic conductances in the various compartments of the neuron. Finally, data from the experiments will be used to construct computer models aimed at understanding the behavior of a larger network of neurons.

I received my Ph.D. at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at University of Washington. Under the guidance of Eberhard Fetz, I examined how the firing rate of cortical neurons was affected by the time course of the underlying EPSP. Subsequently, I was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Edwin Rubel and William Spain, also at the University of Washington. We examined how the membrane properties of N. laminaris neurons, the third order neurons of the avian auditory neurons, determined their ability to phase-lock and to detect coincident events. Finally, I was a postdoctoral fellow with Bert Sakmann at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Medizinische Forschung in Heidelberg, Germany. We performed simultaneous whole-cell recordings from 3 synaptically connected neurons to determine how short term plasticity of EPSPs and IPSPs varied with the identities of the pre- and postsynaptic neurons and to assess how unitary EPSPs summated in pyramidal neurons.

E-mail: reyes@cns.nyu.edu

Representative Publications

Reyes AD B (2001) Influence of dendritic conductances on the input-output properties of neurons. Annual Review of Neuroscience 24: 653-675

Oviedo H, Reyes AD (2002) Boosting of neuronal firing evoked with asynchronous and synchronous inputs to the dendrite. Nature Neuroscience 5:261-266

Chance FS, Abbott LF, Reyes AD (2002) Gain modulation from background synaptic input. Neuron 35:773-782. (see also Priebe NJ & Ferster D, Neuron 15:773-782; Comment)

Reyes AD (2003) Synchrony-dependent propagation of firing rate in iteratively constructed networks in vitro. Nature Neuroscience 6:593-599 (see also Segev, Nature Neuroscience 6:543-544; News & Views).

Paninski L, Lau B, Reyes AD (2003). Noise-driven adaptation: in vitro and mathematical analysis. Neurocomputing 52: 877-883.

Chance FS & Reyes AD (2004) Controlling neuronal sensitivity to synchronous input. Neurocomputing 58-60: 27-31.

Gutkin B, Ermentrout GB, Reyes AD (2005) Phase response curves determine the responses of neurons to transient inputs J. Neurophys. 94: 1623-1635

Oviedo H & Reyes AD (2005) Variation of input-output properties along the somatodendritic axis of pyramidal neurons J. Neurosci 25: 4985-95

Levy RB, Reyes AD & Aoki C (2006) Nicotinic and muscarinic reduction of unitary excitatory postsynaptic potentials in sensory cortex: dual intracellular recording in vitro. J. Neurophysiol. 95: 2155-2166

Cateau H & Reyes AD (2006) Relation between single neuron and population spiking statistics and effects on network activity. Phys. Rev. Letters 96.

Doiron B, Rinzel J, Reyes AD (2006) Stochastic synchronization in finite size spiking networks. Phys. Rev. E (rapid comm.) 74.

Oswald AM, Schiff, ML, Reyes AD (2006) Synaptic mechanisms underlying auditory processing. Curr. Opin. Neurobio. 16:371-376.

Reyes AD (2007) Experimental and theoretical analyses of synchrony in feedforward networks. Computational Neuroscience in Epilepsy , ed. Soltesz and Staley, Elsevier Press

de la Rocha J, Doiron B, Shea-Brown E, Josic K, Reyes AD (2007) Correlation between neural spike trains increases with firing rate. Nature 448: 802-806