LFPy documentation

_images/logo_liten.png

What is LFPy?

LFPy is a Python-module for calculating extracellular potentials from multicompartment neuron models. It relies on the NEURON simulator and the Python interface to NEURON it provides.

LFPy relies on calculating compartmental membrane currents using the NEURON-simulator under the hood, and provides a set of easy-to-use Python-classes for setting up your model, and run your simulations and have simultaneous model predicitions of the extracellular potentials arising from activity of your model neuron. If you have a model working in NEURON already, it is likely that it can be adapted to work with LFPy.

The extracellular potentials are calculated using the following assumptions:
  • The extracellular potential is zero for every compartment when calculating membrane currents
  • The transmembrane current of each compartment are treates as either point- or line-sources in the extracellular space
  • Extracellular potential can not be calculated inside the model cell’s volume, LFPy adjust the distance to each compartment to it’s radius if the extracellular distance is less than this radius
  • Infinite and homogenous extracellular conductivity of the extracellular conductivity
  • Linear and frequency independent extracellular medium
  • Linear superposition of the extracellular potential contribution from all current-sources.

LFPy was developed in the Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Mathemathical Sciences and Technology, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences , in collaboration with the Laboratory of Neuroinformatics, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland. The effort was supported by International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) and the e-science program of The Research Council of Norway.

Indices and tables

Table Of Contents

Next topic

Downloading LFPy

This Page