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Neurophysiology

Hodgkin and Huxley model — still standing?

Abstract

Arising from: B. Naundorf, F. Wolf & M. Volgushev Nature 440, 1060–1063 (2006); Naundorf et al. reply

Action potentials in cortical neurons show a variable threshold and a sudden rise in membrane potential at initiation. Naundorf et al.1 fail to explain these features using single- or double-compartment Hodgkin–Huxley-style models, suggesting instead that they could arise from cooperative opening of Na+ channels, although there is no direct biological evidence to support this. Here we show that these so-called unique features are to be expected from Hodgkin–Huxley models if the spatial geometry and spike initiation properties of cortical neurons are taken into account — it is therefore unnecessary to invoke exotic channel-gating properties as an explanation.

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Figure 1: Properties of spike initiation in the soma and axon of cortical pyramidal cells.
Figure 2: Hodgkin–Huxley model of a layer-5 cortical pyramidal cell.

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McCormick, D., Shu, Y. & Yu, Y. Hodgkin and Huxley model — still standing?. Nature 445, E1–E2 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05523

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