Models of Neurons and Neural Networks Electrical activity underlies the basic functions of neural systems. This page describes my research on quantitative models for neurons and small neural networks. Most of this research has been done collaborativley with the laboratory of Ronald Harris-Warrick. The biological system we study is the stomatogastric ganglion of a rock lobster, Panulirus interruptus .
Ions flow across the membranes of neurons through channels, creating an electrical current.
Hodgkin and Huxley developed procedures for measuring the voltage dependence of channel activation and inactivation and used these procedures to formulate differential equations that describe how membrane potential changes with time. The Hodgkin-Huxley model for the squid giant axon has been modified and extended to account for the electrical properties of many other systems. The STG consists of approximately thirty neurons that coordinate movement in the crustacean foregut. Neurons within the system display complex rhythmic oscillations in which the membrane potential rises and falls, generating bursts of action potentials during part of these oscillations. Individual neurons and smaller subnetworks can be electrically isolated from the remainder of the network and manipulated in vitro.