Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation.
The ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimulus shapes that induce a neuron to fire an action potential, or spike, is relevant to understanding optimal information transmission and therapeutic stimulation in the nervous system. Here we analyze for the first time the ionic basis for stimulus optimali...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2012-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3458826?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819156271070183424 |
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| author | John R Clay Daniel B Forger David Paydarfar |
| author_facet | John R Clay Daniel B Forger David Paydarfar |
| author_sort | John R Clay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimulus shapes that induce a neuron to fire an action potential, or spike, is relevant to understanding optimal information transmission and therapeutic stimulation in the nervous system. Here we analyze for the first time the ionic basis for stimulus optimality in the Hodgkin and Huxley model and for eliciting a spike in squid giant axons, the preparation for which the model was devised. The experimentally determined stimulus is a smoothly varying biphasic current waveform having a relatively long and shallow hyperpolarizing phase followed by a depolarizing phase of briefer duration. The hyperpolarizing phase removes a small degree of the resting level of Na(+) channel inactivation. This result together with the subsequent depolarizing phase provides a signal that is energetically more efficient for eliciting spikes than rectangular current pulses. Sodium channel inactivation is the only variable that is changed during the stimulus waveform, other than the membrane potential, V. The activation variables for Na(+) and K(+) channels are unchanged throughout the stimulus. This result demonstrates how an optimal stimulus waveform relates to ionic dynamics and may have implications for energy efficiency of neural excitation in many systems including the mammalian brain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T15:50:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc9ad6bc1e244400a194cc03e7182b22 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T15:50:13Z |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc9ad6bc1e244400a194cc03e7182b222022-12-21T18:20:55ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0179e4598310.1371/journal.pone.0045983Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation.John R ClayDaniel B ForgerDavid PaydarfarThe ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimulus shapes that induce a neuron to fire an action potential, or spike, is relevant to understanding optimal information transmission and therapeutic stimulation in the nervous system. Here we analyze for the first time the ionic basis for stimulus optimality in the Hodgkin and Huxley model and for eliciting a spike in squid giant axons, the preparation for which the model was devised. The experimentally determined stimulus is a smoothly varying biphasic current waveform having a relatively long and shallow hyperpolarizing phase followed by a depolarizing phase of briefer duration. The hyperpolarizing phase removes a small degree of the resting level of Na(+) channel inactivation. This result together with the subsequent depolarizing phase provides a signal that is energetically more efficient for eliciting spikes than rectangular current pulses. Sodium channel inactivation is the only variable that is changed during the stimulus waveform, other than the membrane potential, V. The activation variables for Na(+) and K(+) channels are unchanged throughout the stimulus. This result demonstrates how an optimal stimulus waveform relates to ionic dynamics and may have implications for energy efficiency of neural excitation in many systems including the mammalian brain.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3458826?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | John R Clay Daniel B Forger David Paydarfar Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation. PLoS ONE |
| title | Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation. |
| title_full | Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation. |
| title_fullStr | Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation. |
| title_short | Ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation: role of Na+ channel inactivation. |
| title_sort | ionic mechanism underlying optimal stimuli for neuronal excitation role of na channel inactivation |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3458826?pdf=render |
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