The Wilson Model of Cortical Neurons

I. Refinements on the Hodgkin-Huxley Model The years since Hodgkin’s and Huxley’s pioneering work have produced a number of derivative Hodgkin-Huxley-like models. Recall that Hodgkin and Huxley developed their model from data measured in the giant axon of the squid. Therefore the original model only had voltagedependent channel models for a Na channel and a K channel. There are in addition to these types of channels found in axons a great many other species of voltage-gated channels (VGCs), both of the Na and K types as well as VGCs that conduct Ca currents. These channels are characterized by different rate constants controlling their channel gating as well as different values of maximum channel conductance. Different researchers have employed different approaches to modeling the Hodgkin-Huxley channel dynamics. Some researchers stick very close to the biophysical “picture” presented in Hodgkin’s and Huxley’s work. Their expressions for the voltage dependence of the rate constants tend to look very much like those of Hodgkin-Huxley, and their circuit models tend to look very