"... To help decipher the biophysical basis for ‘paroxysmal’ spiking, we replicated afterdischarge (i.e. continued spiking after a brief stimulus) in a minimal conductance-based axon model. ... A perturbation could abruptly switch the system between two (quasi-)stable attractor states: rest and repetitive spiking. ... Initiation of afterdischarge was explained by activation of the persistent inward current forcing the system to cross a saddle point that separates the basins of attraction associated with each attractor. Termination of afterdischarge was explained by the attractor associated with repetitive spiking being destroyed. ... The model also explains other features of paroxysmal symptoms, including temporal summation and refractoriness."
Model Type: Axon
Model Concept(s): Nociception
Simulation Environment: XPPAUT
Implementer(s): Prescott, Steven [steve.prescott at sickkids.ca]]
References:
Coggan JS, Ocker GK, Sejnowski TJ, Prescott SA. (2011). Explaining pathological changes in axonal excitability through dynamical analysis of conductance-based models. Journal of neural engineering. 8 [PubMed]