Stimulus sensitivity and neuromodulatory properties of noisy intrinsic neuronal oscillators

Intrinsic subthreshold oscillations in the membrane potential are a common property of many neurons in the peripheral and central nervous system. When such oscillations are combined with noise, interesting signal encoding and neuromodulatory properties are obtained which allow, for example, sensitiv ity adjustment or differential encoding of stimuli. Here we demonstrate tha t a noisy Hodgkin/Huxley-model for subthreshold oscillations, when tuned to maximum sensitivity, can be significantly modulated by even minor physiolo gical changes in the oscillation parameters amplitude or frequency. Given t he ubiquity of subthreshold oscillating neurons, it can be assumed that the se findings reflect principle encoding properties which are relevant for an understanding of sensitivity and neuromodulation in peripheral and central neurons. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.