Cultured Kenyon cells from the mushroom body of the honeybee, Apis mellifera, show a voltage-gated, fast transient K1 current that is sensitive to 4-aminopyridine, an A current. The kinetic properties of this A current and its modulation by extracellular K1 ions were investigated in vitro with the whole cell patch-clamp technique. The A current was isolated from other voltage-gated currents either pharmacologically or with suitable voltage-clamp protocols. Hodgkin- and Huxley-style mathematical equations were used for the description of this current and for the simulation of action potentials in a Kenyon cell model. The data of the A current were incorporated into a reduced computational model of the voltage-gated currents of Kenyon cells. In addition, the model contained a delayed rectifier K current, a Na current, and a leakage current. The model reproduces several experimental features and makes predictions. See paper for details and results.
Model Type: Neuron or other electrically excitable cell
Cell Type(s): Honeybee kenyon cell
Model Concept(s): Ion Channel Kinetics; Parameter Fitting; Action Potentials; Invertebrate
Simulation Environment: SNNAP
Implementer(s): Baxter, Douglas
References:
Pelz C, Jander J, Rosenboom H, Hammer M, Menzel R. (1999). IA in Kenyon cells of the mushroom body of honeybees resembles shaker currents: kinetics, modulation by K+, and simulation. Journal of neurophysiology 81 [PubMed]