Mimic the electric activity in a heat-sensitive membrane in circuit

Abstract

The membrane potential of an isolated biological neuron results from the concentration difference between intracellular and extracellular ions. Any external disturbance and synaptic current from adjacent neurons will break the balance of electromagnetic field induced by gradient distribution of ions. Neurons develop different biophysical functions and then more neurons are clustered with controllable synapses to form different functional regions in the brain. In this Letter, two linear circuits (LCs) are coupled via a nonlinear resistor for mimicking the electric characteristic of cell membrane. Thermistors are included to approach a thermal-sensitive membrane. The neuron model developed from the coupled circuits with thermistors has two capacitive variables, which represent the external and inner electric field, and energy balance between inner and outer membranes are controlled by the coupling channel via a nonlinear resistor. The neuron excitability is relative to the temperature, two kinds of thermistors are used in the coupled LCs to investigate the consensus and difference between inner and outer media. Energy propagation is blocked when the thermal properties have distinct difference between two sides of the cell membrane, and potential diversity supports continuous firing patterns. The results provide possible clues to design artificial cell membrane which is sensitive to temperature.