The Effect of Variations in Ionic Conductance Values on the Suppression of Repetitive Spiking in a Mathematical Model of Type-A Medial Vestibular Nucleus Neurons

Takaaki Shirahata

doi:10.4236/am.2016.710101

Abstract

A previous study has proposed a mathematical model of type-A medial vestibular nucleus neurons (mVNn). This model is described by a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which is based on the Hodgkin-Huxley formalism. The type-A mVNn model contains several ionic conductances, such as the sodium conductance, calcium conductance, delayed-rectifier potassium conductance, transient potassium conductance, and calcium-dependent potassium conductance. The previous study revealed that spontaneous repetitive spiking in the type-A mVNn model can be suppressed by hyperpolarizing stimulation. However, how this suppression is affected by the ionic conductances has not been clarified in the previous study. The present study performed numerical simulation analysis of the type-A mVNn model to clarify how variations in the different ionic conductance values affect the suppression of repetitive spiking. The present study revealed that the threshold for the transition from a repetitive spiking state to a quiescent state is differentially sensitive to variations in the ionic conductances among the different types of ionic conductance.

Highlights

Type-A medial vestibular nucleus neurons can show spontaneous repetitive spiking without stimulationHow to cite this paper: Shirahata, T. (2016) The Effect of Variations in Ionic Conductance Values on the Suppression of Repetitive Spiking in a Mathematical Model of Type-A Medial Vestibular Nucleus Neurons
It is important to clarify how the different ionic conductances in the type-A medial vestibular nucleus neurons (mVNn) model each affect the suppression of spiking
To determine the effect of the hyperpolarizing stimulation on spiking activity in more detail, the present study first investigated the response of the model to hyperpolarizing stimulations of smaller amplitudes under conditions in which all the ionic conductances were set to default values

Summary

Introduction

Type-A medial vestibular nucleus neurons (mVNn) can show spontaneous repetitive spiking without stimulationHow to cite this paper: Shirahata, T. (2016) The Effect of Variations in Ionic Conductance Values on the Suppression of Repetitive Spiking in a Mathematical Model of Type-A Medial Vestibular Nucleus Neurons. (2016) The Effect of Variations in Ionic Conductance Values on the Suppression of Repetitive Spiking in a Mathematical Model of Type-A Medial Vestibular Nucleus Neurons. A mathematical model, which reproduces the spiking, has been proposed based on the Hodgkin-Huxley formulation [1]. This model, which is described by a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs), contains several ionic conductances such as the sodium conductance, calcium conductance, delayed-rectifier potassium conductance, transient potassium conductance, and calcium-dependent potassium conductance. It is important to clarify how the different ionic conductances in the type-A mVNn model each affect the suppression of spiking. This issue was not been investigated in the previous study [1]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion