Mathematical description of ionic currents of the Kenyon cell in the mushroom body of honeybee

The mushroom body of insects has been considered to be mainly involved in l earning and memory. In the case of honeybee, it consists of about 340 000 i ntrinsic neurons, called Kenyon cells. Ionic currents in the isolated Kenyo n cell somata were measured by the whole-cell recording method. Three outwa rd currents: a rapidly activating and inactivating A-type potassium current (I-A), a calcium-activated potassium current (I-C) and a delayed rectifier -type potassium current (I-K); and several types of inward currents: a sodi um current (I-Na) and a calcium current (I-Ca) were identified and investig ated by Schafer et al. In this paper, we described the currents using Hodgk in-Huxley-type equations. The voltage responses of isolated Kenyon cell wer e reconstructed based on these mathematical models. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scien ce B.V. All rights reserved.