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Brief Communications Arising
Nature 445, E1-E2 (4 January 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature05523; Published online 3 January 2007
Neurophysiology: Hodgkin and Huxley model — still standing?
David A. McCormick1, Yousheng Shu1,2 & Yuguo Yu1
Abstract
Arising from: B. Naundorf, F. Wolf & M. Volgushev Nature 440, 1060–1063 (2006); Naundorf et al. reply
Action potentials in cortical neurons show a variable threshold and a sudden rise in membrane potential at initiation. Naundorf et al.1 fail to explain these features using single- or double-compartment Hodgkin–Huxley-style models, suggesting instead that they could arise from cooperative opening of Na+ channels, although there is no direct biological evidence to support this. Here we show that these so-called unique features are to be expected from Hodgkin–Huxley models if the spatial geometry and spike initiation properties of cortical neurons are taken into account — it is therefore unnecessary to invoke exotic channel-gating properties as an explanation.
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