Computational models of dentate gyrus with epilepsy-induced morphological alterations in granule cells

•Complexity of epileptogenic networks is modeled with computational tools.•Computational tools model temporal lobe epilepsy-induced alterations.•Computational tools model granule cell alterations and DG hyperactivity.•There are still challenges for future computational modeling of epileptogenesis.

Temporal lobe epilepsy provokes a number of different morphological alterations in granule cells of the hippocampus dentate gyrus. These alterations may be associated with the hyperactivity and hypersynchrony found in the epileptic dentate gyrus, and their study requires the use of different kinds of approaches including computational modeling. Conductance-based models of both normal and epilepsy-induced morphologically altered granule cells have been used in the construction of network models of dentate gyrus to study the effects of these alterations on epilepsy. Here, we review these models and discuss their contributions to the understanding of the association between alterations in neuronal morphology and epilepsy in the dentate gyrus.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “NEWroscience 2013”.