Simulation of electric potential in 3D neuronal axon

Abstract

The simulation of extracellular fields is a fundamental method in computational neuroscience. One of the most important factors for the extracellular field understanding is the action potential propagation in axons. The FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) equations are used to model and simulate the propagation of action potential in a single axon in Comsol Multiphysics 5.2®. The model is validated against a reference model and the electric potential propagation is observed by ‘freezing’ the simulation at three different times. The paper discusses and makes new observations on the effect of FHN model parameters α, ϵ, β, γ and δ on the propagation of action potential along the axon.