ABSTRACT
System’s level function must be shaped by the neuronal dynamics which arise from fundamental nonlinearities in cellular properties. Computational modeling is a natural, even necessary, handmaiden to understanding these processes. The cardiorespiratory nucleus of the solitary tract provides a useful model system to combine cellular, systems, and computational methods to understand sensory processing and integration. This approach is proving useful, for example in understanding the apparently non-additive response of second-order baroreceptor neurons. However, it also has highlighted unresolved issues of the function of the cardiorespiratory control systems. In addition, use of membrane channels in neuron models has pointed up important issues for the interpretation of the significance of conductances to neuronal behavior. Neuronal behavior does not appear to arise from unique, specific parameter values. Consequences for experimental design, data interpretation, and more broadly for understanding neural systems (!) will be discussed.
