Enhancing the Hodgkin-Huxley Equations: Simulations Based on the First Publication in the Biophysical Journal

Abstract

The experiments in the Cole and Moore article in the first issue of the Biophysical Journal provided the first independent experimental confirmation of the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) equations. A log-log plot of the K current versus time showed that raising the HH variable n to the sixth power provided the best fit to the data. Subsequent simulations using n(6) and setting the resting potential at the in vivo value simplifies the HH equations by eliminating the leakage term. Our article also reported that the K current in response to a depolarizing step to ENa was delayed if the step was preceded by a hyperpolarization. While the interpretation of this phenomenon in the article was flawed, subsequent simulations show that the effect completely arises from the original HH equations.