Contribution of voltage-dependent ion channels to subthreshold resonance

Abstract

Subthreshold resonance has been observed in many excitatory/'inhibitory neurons in the brain and it is suggested that such resonance phenomena play an important role in behavioral or perceptual functions in animals. Various voltage-dependent channels are thought to be involved in the generation of these resonance oscillations. For a compartmental neuron model with Ca2+-dependent K+ channel and low-threshold Ca2+ channel, conductance-based channel dynamics are linearized around equilibrium states and a neuron model can be treated as an equivalent RLC electric circuit, which indicates that the subthreshold resonance may be attributable to inductive properties of voltage-dependent channels. By computer simulation, we examine how parameters of these voltage-dependent channels, such as an equilibrium potential and the amplitude, effect to generate a subthreshold resonance.