A Simple Modification Of The Hodgkin & Huxley Equations Explains Type 3 Excitability In Squid Giant Axons

This paper describes an unusual finding from a well known preparation in neuroscience - squid giant axons.

Specifically, the cell fires once and only once in response to a sustained depolarizing current pulse, a result Alan Hodgkin referred to as Type 3 in a classic paper on crustacean axons published in 1948.

Surprisingly, squid giant axons also exhibit this behavior even though the classic Hodgkin and Huxley (1952) model for squid axons fires repetitively for these conditions - Type 2 behavior.

A simple modification in the K+ conductance system in their equations is sufficient to mimic this result.


Journal of the Royal Society Interface


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