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. 1995 Oct;69(4):1203–1217. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(95)79995-7

A bifurcation analysis of neuronal subthreshold oscillations.

J A White 1, T Budde 1, A R Kay 1
PMCID: PMC1236352  PMID: 8534792

Abstract

The conditions under which a noninactivating sodium current and either a potassium current or an inwardly rectifying cation current can generate subthreshold oscillations were analyzed using nonlinear dynamical techniques applied to a neuronal model consisting of two differential equations. Mathematical descriptions of the membrane currents were derived using voltage-clamp data collected from entorhinal cortical neurons. A bifurcation analysis was performed using applied current as the control parameter to map the range of magnitudes of the sodium, potassium/cation, and leakage conductances over which subthreshold oscillations exist. The threshold of the potassium/cation current was an important determinant of the robustness of oscillatory behavior. The activation time constant of the potassium/cation current largely determined the frequency range of emergent oscillations. This result implicates the slow inward rectifier or an as yet undescribed slow outward current in entorhinal cortical oscillations; the latter explanation, while more speculative, is more consistent with the pharmacological properties of subthreshold oscillations and gives oscillations over a larger current range. The shallowness of the sodium activation curve confined emergent oscillations to rise gradually rather than abruptly and extended the current range over which the model oscillated.

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Selected References

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