Frontiers in Neuroscience (Nov 2021)

Markov Chain Abstractions of Electrochemical Reaction-Diffusion in Synaptic Transmission for Neuromorphic Computing

  • Margot Wagner,
  • Margot Wagner,
  • Margot Wagner,
  • Thomas M. Bartol,
  • Thomas M. Bartol,
  • Terrence J. Sejnowski,
  • Terrence J. Sejnowski,
  • Terrence J. Sejnowski,
  • Terrence J. Sejnowski,
  • Terrence J. Sejnowski,
  • Gert Cauwenberghs,
  • Gert Cauwenberghs,
  • Gert Cauwenberghs

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.698635
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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Progress in computational neuroscience toward understanding brain function is challenged both by the complexity of molecular-scale electrochemical interactions at the level of individual neurons and synapses and the dimensionality of network dynamics across the brain covering a vast range of spatial and temporal scales. Our work abstracts an existing highly detailed, biophysically realistic 3D reaction-diffusion model of a chemical synapse to a compact internal state space representation that maps onto parallel neuromorphic hardware for efficient emulation at a very large scale and offers near-equivalence in input-output dynamics while preserving biologically interpretable tunable parameters.

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