We investigate the regularity of spontaneous spiking activity on Newman-Watts small-world networks consisting of biophysically realistic Hodgkin-Huxley neurons with a tunable intensity of intrinsic noise and fraction of blocked voltage-gated sodium and potassium ion channels embedded in neuronal membranes. We show that there exists an optimal fraction of shortcut links between physically distant neurons, as well as an optimal intensity of intrinsic noise, which warrant an optimally ordered spontaneous spiking activity. This doubly coherence resonance-like phenomenon depends significantly, and can be controlled via the fraction of closed sodium and potassium ion channels, whereby the impacts can be understood via the analysis of the firing rate function as well as the deterministic system dynamics. Potential biological implications of our findings for information propagation across neural networks are also discussed.
Recent experimental and theoretical studies show that energy efficiency, which measures the amount of information processed by a neuron with per unit of energy consumption, plays an important role in the evolution of neural systems. Here, we calculated the information rates and energy efficiencies of the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) neuron model at different temperatures in a noisy environment. We found that both the information rate and energy efficiency are maximized by certain temperatures. Though the information rate and energy efficiency cannot be maximized simultaneously, the neuron holds a high …
We numerically investigate the influence of intrinsic channel noise on the dynamical response of delay-coupling in neuronal systems. The stochastic dynamics of the spiking is modeled within a stochastic modification of the standard Hodgkin-Huxley model wherein the delay-coupling accounts for the finite propagation time of an action potential along the neuronal axon. We quantify this delay-coupling of the Pyragas-type in terms of the difference between corresponding presynaptic and postsynaptic membrane potentials. For an elementary neuronal network consisting of two coupled neurons we detect c…
The effect of intrinsic channel noise is investigated for the dynamic response of a neuronal cell with a delayed feedback loop. The loop is based on the so-called autapse phenomenon in which dendrites establish not only connections to neighboring cells but as well to its own axon. The biophysical modeling is achieved in terms of a stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley model containing such a built in delayed feedback. The fluctuations stem from intrinsic channel noise, being caused by the stochastic nature of the gating dynamics of ion channels. The influence of the delayed stimulus is systematically anal…
We study the response of the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron stimulated periodically by biphasic rectangular current pulses. The optimal response for charge-balanced input is obtained for cathodic-first pulses with an inter-phase gap (IPG) approximately equal 5 ms. For short pulses the topology of the global bifurcation diagram in the period-amplitude plane is approximately invariant with respect to the pulse polarity and shape details. If stimuli are delivered at neuron's resonant frequencies the firing rate is a continuous function of pulse amplitude. At nonresonant frequencies the quiescent state and…
We numerically study dynamical behaviors of the quasiperiodically forced Hodgkin-Huxley neuron and compare the dynamical responses with those for the case of periodic stimulus. In the periodically forced case, a transition from a periodic to a chaotic oscillation was found to occur via period doublings in previous numerical and experimental works. We investigate the effect of the quasiperiodic forcing on this period-doubling route to chaotic oscillation. In contrast to the case of periodic forcing, new type of strange nonchaotic (SN) oscillating states (that are geometrically strange but have …
We study the response of a Hodgkin-Huxley neuron stimulated by a periodic sequence of conductance pulses arriving through the synapse in the high frequency regime. In addition to the usual excitation threshold there is a smooth crossover from the firing to the silent regime for increasing pulse amplitude $g_{syn}$. The amplitude of the voltage spikes decreases approximately linearly with $g_{syn}$. In some regions of parameter space the response is irregular, probably chaotic. In the chaotic regime between the mode-locked regions 3:1 and 2:1 near the lower excitation threshold the output inter…
We describe general characteristics of the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron's response to a periodic train of short current pulses with Gaussian noise. The deterministic neuron is bistable for antiresonant frequencies. When the stimuli arrive at the resonant frequency the firing rate is a continuous function of the current amplitude $I_0$ and scales as $(I_0-I_{th})^{1/2}$, where $I_{th}$ is an approximate threshold. Intervals of continuous irregular response alternate with integer mode-locked regions with bistable excitation edge. There is an even-all multimodal transition between the 2:1 and 3:1 states…
A spiking neuron ``computes'' by transforming a complex dynamical input into a train of action potentials, or spikes. The computation performed by the neuron can be formulated as dimensional reduction, or feature detection, followed by a nonlinear decision function over the low dimensional space. Generalizations of the reverse correlation technique with white noise input provide a numerical strategy for extracting the relevant low dimensional features from experimental data, and information theory can be used to evaluate the quality of the low--dimensional approximation. We apply these methods…
The coherence resonance (CR) of globally coupled Hodgkin-Huxley neurons is studied. When the neurons are set in the subthreshold regime near the firing threshold, the additive noise induces limit cycles. The coherence of the system is optimized by the noise. A bell-shaped curve is found for the peak height of power spectra of the spike train, being significantly different from a monotonic behavior for the single neuron. The coupling of the network can enhance CR in two different ways. In particular, when the coupling is strong enough, the synchronization of the system is induced and optimized …
We compare and contrast spiral- and scroll-wave dynamics in five different mathematical models for cardiac tissue. The first is the TP06 model, due to ten Tusscher and Panfilov, which is based on the Hodgkin-Huxley formalism; the remaining four are Markov-state models, MM1 WT and MM2 WT, for the wild-type (WT) Na channel, and MM1 MUT and MM2 MUT, for the mutant Na channel. Our results are based on extensive direct numerical simulations of waves of electrical activation in these models, in two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) homogeneous simulation domains and also in domains with localised h…
The Na+ current in nerve and muscle membranes may be described in terms of the activation variable m(t) and the inactivation variable h(t), which are dependent on the transitions of S4 sensors of each of the Na+ channel domains DI to DIV. The time-dependence of the Na+ current and the rate equations satisfied by m(t) and h(t) may be derived from the solution to a master equation which describes the coupling between two or three activation sensors regulating the Na+ channel conductance and a two stage inactivation process. If the inactivation rate from the closed or open states increases as the…
The soliton wave model of action potentials, and the proposal of induced lipid pores, are potentially paradigm shifting ideas which challenge accepted views of the Hodgkin-Huxley model and of protein-based ion channels. These two proposals are reviewed, and possible tests of each are presented. Also, three key non-electrical features seen during action potentials are reviewed; a shift in birefringence, the pattern of heat emission and absorption, and the expansion of cell diameter. How the soliton wave model uses the lipid phase transition to account for each of these three phenomena is contra…
The activation of a $K^+$ channel sensor in two sequential stages during a voltage clamp may be described as the translocation of a Brownian particle in an energy landscape with two large barriers between states. A solution of the Smoluchowski equation for a square-well approximation to the potential function of the S4 voltage sensor satisfies a master equation, and has two frequencies that may be determined from the forward and backward rate functions. When the higher frequency terms have small amplitude, the solution reduces to the relaxation of a rate equation, where the derived two-state r…
Complex systems in the real world can be modeled as a network of connected components. The human brain, as a network of neurons among which the interactions cause perception, is a complex network. Synchronization is a dynamical phenomenon that can be seen in the brain. The network topology has a remarkable impact on both the function and the dynamics of neural networks. In this research, synchronization of neural networks is scrutinized through creating various topologies. These networks include both excitatory and inhibitory neurons. We investigate the dynamics of different networks by random…
In this research, the aim is to develop a repetitive firing stopper mechanism using electrical fields exerted on the fiber. The Hodgkin - Huxley nerve fiber model is used for modeling the membrane potential behavior. The repetitive firing of the nerve fiber can be stopped using approaches based on the control theory where the nonlinear Hodgkin - Huxley model is used to achieve this goal. The effects of the electrical field are considered as an additive quantity over the equilibrium potentials of the cell membrane channels. The study is a representative of an experimental application.
In the last fifteen years a debate emerged about the validity of the famous Hodgkin-Huxley model for nerve impulse. Mechanical models have been proposed. This note reviews the experimental properties of the nerve impulse and discusses the proposed alternatives. The experimental data, which rule out some of the alternative suggestions, show that, while the Hodgkin-Huxley model may not be complete, it nevertheless includes essential features that should not be overlooked in the attempts made to improve, or supersede, it.
An artificial neural network (ANN) based on fundamental principles of physics can simulate the operation of neurobiological reality of membrane potential as well as the properly defined order parameter. This ANN operates in conditions of criticality and simulates the behavior of an excitatory biological neuron, especially the relaxation phase where the critical fluctuations of biological neuron appear. These critical fluctuations can not be explained by the Hodgkin-Huxley (H-H) model. A proposal for the origin of these fluctuations is being discussed.
In this work we have theoretically investigated how the action potential generation and its associated intrinsic properties are affected in presence of ion channel blockers by adapting Gillepie's stochastic simulation technique on a very basic neuron of Hodgkin-Huxley type. With a simple extension of the Hodgkin-Huxley Markov model we have mainly investigated three types of drug blocking mechanisms and showed that the major experimental and physiological observations such as ionic currents, spiking frequency trends, change in action potential shape and duration, altered gating dynamics etc due…
Brain plasticity refers to brain's ability to change neuronal connections, as a result of environmental stimuli, new experiences, or damage. In this work, we study the effects of the synaptic delay on both the coupling strengths and synchronisation in a neuronal network with synaptic plasticity. We build a network of Hodgkin-Huxley neurons, where the plasticity is given by the Hebbian rules. We verify that without time delay the excitatory synapses became stronger from the high frequency to low frequency neurons and the inhibitory synapses increases in the opposite way, when the delay is incre…
In this work the stochastic generalization of single Hodgkin-Huxley neuron is further extended to unidirectionally coupled neurons. Our main focus is to elucidate the role of channel noise in the kinetics and energetics of spiking of action potential and the synchronization between two coupled neurons. We have found that the size of the patch is playing the pivotal role in synchronization and metabolic energy consumption. For example, there exists three different patch size ranges in which coupled neuron system behaves in a different manner from noise enhanced phase to dead range state before …
Using a stochastic generalization of the Hodgkin–Huxley model, we consider the influence of intrinsic channel noise on the synchronization between the spiking activity of the excitable membrane and an externally applied periodic signal. For small patches, i.e., when the channel noise dominates the excitable dynamics, we find the phenomenon of intrinsic coherence resonance. In this case, the relatively regular spiking behavior is practically independent of the applied external driving; therefore no synchronization occurs. Synchronization takes place, however, only for sufficiently large i…
In this paper, we analyze the effect of the redistribution of the transmembrane ion channels in the axon caused by longitudinal acoustic vibrations of the membrane. These oscillations can be excited by an external source of ultrasound and weak microwave radiation interacting with the charges sitting on the surface of the lipid membrane. It is shown, using the Hodgkin-Huxley model of the axon, that the density redistribution of transmembrane sodium channels may reduce the threshold of the action potential, up to its spontaneous initiation. At the significant redistribution of sodium channels in…
