2-STATE STOCHASTIC-MODELS FOR MEMORY IN ION CHANNELS

AIM: To study quantitatively the memory existing in ion channels. METH ODS: Stochastic processes were used to model 2 categories of memory (s hort-term and long-term) by persisting in the standpoint of two-state, instead of multiple states, but with different transition mechanism. RESULTS: A two-state Markov process with constant transition intensiti es well fitted the short-term memory and a two-state Markov process wi thin a kind of random environment well fitted the long-term memory. St atistical procedures for parameter estimation were proposed and demons trated with 2 real examples on the channels of PC12 cells. CONCLUSION: The memory in ion channels can be quantitatively modelled as stochast ic process with 2 states.