[Physiological Aspects of the Application of Hodgkin-Huxley Model of Action Potential Initiation for Invertebrate and Vertebrate Neurons].

Abstract

Recent studies have revealed.that in contrast to invertebrate systems, the initiation of action potentials in vertebrate neurons significantly differ from the relatively slow exponential dynamics predicted by Hodgkin-Huxley equations, but rather is characterized by a sharp onset with a kink. These data provided new insights into the link between action potential initiation and abilities of neurons and neuronal networks to encode. high frequency signals. Here, we review recent models describing sharp onset dynamics of action potential initiation, including an alternative model of cooperative activation of sodium channels, as well as the influence of the dynamics of action potential initiation on computational abili- ties of neuronal networks. The importance this topic is due to the fact that, despite the rapid development of neuronal modeling during last decades, the well established models are unable to capture experimentally observed details of the onset dynamics of action potentials in mammalian neurons and the abilities of neurons to reliably encode code high frequency signals Recent advances of experimental and theoretical analysis of generation of action potentials and neuronal encoding, presented in this review, are ofgreat importance for better understanding of neuronal processing and development of a more precise and realistic neuronal model.