GROGRA and GENESIS: in computo grown neurons used for realistic compartmental modeling

We report on the novel use of the existing growth grammar interpreter GROGRA for neuroanatomical simulations of pyramidal cells, interneurons and purkinje cells. Growth parameters for these cell types result from analyzing web-based cell reconstructions by means of a custom made Matlab-program and corroborate existing literature data. Synthetic cells are displayed and studied in a VRML-browser. GENESIS simulations of several sets of synthetic morphologies are then used to shed light on the question, how much influence morphology needs to have in a truly realistic network simulation.