LIMITATIONS OF THE HODGKIN-HUXLEY FORMALISM - EFFECTS OF SINGLE-CHANNEL KINETICS ON TRANSMEMBRANE VOLTAGE DYNAMICS

A standard membrane model, based on the continuous deterministic Hodgk in-Huxley equations, is compared to an alternative membrane model, bas ed on discrete stochastic ion channel populations represented through Markov processes. Simulations explore the relationship between these t wo levels of description: the behavior predicted by the macroscopic me mbrane currents versus the behavior predicted by their microscopic ion channels. Discussion considers the extent to which these random event s underlying neural signals mediate random events in neural computatio n.