Frequency-dependent information coding in neurons with stochastic ion channels for subthreshold periodic forcing

Abstract

The channel noise that stems from the stochastic nature of the ion channel has important effects on neuronal dynamics. In this context, we investigate the effect of the sub-threshold periodic current forcing on the regularity and synchronization of neuronal spiking activity by using a stochastic extension of the Hodgkin–Huxley model. We demonstrate that the intrinsic coherence resonance is independent of the forcing frequency for very small patch size while it is dependent on the frequency for larger sizes. We also show that the observed phase locking behavior occurs on the positive phase of the periodic current forcing for a small frequency range while the spikes fire most frequently at negative phase as the frequency is increased.