Activating function

Approximation of the effect of an electric field on neurons From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The activating function is a mathematical formalism that is used to approximate the influence of an extracellular field on an axon or neurons.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It was developed by Frank Rattay and is a useful tool to approximate the influence of functional electrical stimulation (FES) or neuromodulation techniques on target neurons.[7] It points out locations of high hyperpolarization and depolarization caused by the electrical field acting upon the nerve fiber. As a rule of thumb, the activating function is proportional to the second-order spatial derivative of the extracellular potential along the axon.

Equations

Summarize
Perspective

In a compartment model of an axon, the activating function of compartment n, , is derived from the driving term of the external potential, or the equivalent injected current

,

where is the membrane capacity, the extracellular voltage outside compartment relative to the ground and the axonal resistance of compartment .

The activating function represents the rate of membrane potential change if the neuron is in resting state before the stimulation. Its physical dimensions are V/s or mV/ms. In other words, it represents the slope of the membrane voltage at the beginning of the stimulation.[8]

Following McNeal's[9] simplifications for long fibers of an ideal internode membrane, with both membrane capacity and conductance assumed to be 0 the differential equation determining the membrane potential for each node is:

,

where is the constant fiber diameter, the node-to-node distance, the node length the axomplasmatic resistivity, the capacity and the ionic currents. From this the activating function follows as:

.

In this case the activating function is proportional to the second order spatial difference of the extracellular potential along the fibers. If and then:

.

Thus is proportional to the second order spatial differential along the fiber.

Interpretation

Positive values of suggest a depolarization of the membrane potential and negative values a hyperpolarization of the membrane potential.

References

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