Title
Subthreshold Voltage Noise Due to Channel Fluctuations in Active Neuronal Membranes.
Abstract
Voltage-gated ion channels in neuronal membranes fluctuate randomly between different conforma- tional states due to thermal agitation. Fluctuations between conducting and nonconducting states give rise to noisy membrane currents and subthreshold voltage fluctuations and may contribute to variability in spike timing. Here we study subthreshold voltage fluctuations due to active voltage-gated NaC and KC channels as predicted by two commonly used kinetic schemes: the Mainen et al. (1995) (MJHS) kinetic scheme, which has been used to model dendritic channels in cortical neurons, and the classical Hodgkin-Huxley (1952) (HH) kinetic scheme for the squid giant axon. We compute the magnitudes, amplitude distributions, and power spectral densities of the voltage noise in isopotential membrane patches predicted by these kinetic schemes. For both schemes, noise magnitudes increase rapidly with depolarization from rest. Noise is larger for smaller patch areas but is smaller for increased model temperatures. We contrast the results from Monte Carlo simulations of the stochastic nonlinear kinetic schemes with analytical, closed-form expressions derived using passive and quasi-active linear approximations to the kinetic schemes. For all subthreshold voltage ranges, the quasi-active linearized approximation is accurate within 8% and may thus be used in large-scale simulations of realistic neuronal geometries.
Year
DOI
Venue
2000
10.1023/A:1008967807741
Journal of Computational Neuroscience
Keywords
Field
DocType
membrane noise,active ion channels,Markov kinetic models,stochastic ion channels
Statistical physics,Membrane potential,Monte Carlo method,Computational physics,Control theory,Voltage,Subthreshold conduction,Depolarization,Amplitude,Kinetic scheme,Mathematics,Kinetic energy
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
9
2
0929-5313
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
26
2.41
7
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
p n steinmetz1385.92
Amit Manwani25611.11
Christof Koch37248973.47
Michael London4383.93
Idan Segev515327.18