Comparative study of metaheuristics for the curve-fitting problem: modeling neurotransmitter diffusion and synaptic receptor activation

Abstract

Synapses are key elements in the information transmission in the nervous system. Among the different approaches to study them, the use of computational simulations is identified as the most promising technique. Simulations, however, do not provide generalized models of the underlying biochemical phenomena, but a set of observations, or time-series curves, displaying the behavior of the synapse in the scenario represented. Finding a general model of these curves, like a set of mathematical equations, could be an achievement in the study of synaptic behavior. In this paper, we propose an exploratory analysis in which selected curve models are proposed, and state-of-the-art metaheuristics are used and compared to fit the free coefficients of these curves to the data obtained from simulations. Experimental results demonstrate that several models can fit these data, though a deeper analysis from a biological perspective reveals that some are better suited for this purpose, as they represent more accurately the biological process. Based on the results of this analysis, we propose a set ofmathematical equations and a methodology, adequate formodeling several aspects of biochemical synaptic behavior.