Resonance effects in neuronal-astrocyte model with ion channel blockage

Abstract

Blockage of the specific ion channel is significant for neuronal dynamics. Astrocytes, the active partners of neurons, play the role of regulators of many neural activity processes. The effects of ion channel blockage and astrocyte responses to subthreshold periodic signals of different frequencies were investigated in a stochastic extended Hodgkin-Huxley model. We demonstrated that the neuronal response to weak signals is weakened by sodium channel blockage, whereas it is improved by modulating the degree of potassium channel blockage. There is a certain value of potassium channel blocking intensity, corresponding to the optimal response output, that is, the system has reached the resonance state. When taking the astrocyte into account, the system's response to weak stimuli can be enhanced a little. The more significant role of the astrocyte is that they have different responses to weak signals at different frequencies. The greater the neuron-astrocyte coupling strength factor, the better the response of the neuron to high-frequency weak signals. Therefore, we noted the phenomenon of “frequency selection” of the system's response to weak signals: at low frequencies, potassium channel blockage improves the response, whereas the astrocyte can modulate the neuronal response to external stimuli in the higher frequency range.