Effect of self-gating on action potential firing at neuromuscular junction

M. Mostafizur Rahman*, Mufti Mahmud, Stefano Vassanelli

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is the place where the axon terminal of motoneuron connects the endplate of a muscle fiber. During this transduction a large depolarization (endplate potential) caused by the nerve impulse opens a large number of voltage-sensitive sodium channels at the post-junctional terminal. As a result, action potentials are generated and propagated along the muscle fiber causing contraction. This work shows simulated results of the voltage-dependent sodium channels' firing behavior at the NMJ using a mathematical model. It is found that the firing behavior of the sodium channels change basing on their activation and inactivation kinetics which are highly influenced by the self-gating behavior of the sodium conductances. The simulation results showed that self-gating of sodium channels increase conduction efficiency at the NMJ and decrease threshold for firing.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication33rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS 2011
Pages4082-4085
Number of pages4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS
ISSN (Print)1557-170X

Keywords

  • Self-gating
  • action potentials
  • neuromuscular junction
  • voltage-dependent sodium channels

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Signal Processing
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Health Informatics

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