Hi Everybody:
I am studying Hodgkin-huxley mechanism and action potentials. I get lost
in a few *basic*, *simple* questions:
What really is the Action Potential definition? In my work I saw many
soma spikes. Some peak at
+35mV, some peak at 0mV and some peak at -10mV. They
all have Na channel opens then inactivates, K channel
with a delay opens and closes. The different peaks
they reach I think is due to different percentage of
Na channel be activated and opened. In some conditions
a big portion of Na channel are still in inactivated
status so they cannot be employed in that spike and
they have a lower peak. I am wondering those spikes
with peak at -10mV can be called action potential. If
not, what is the fine line to divide them, since they
all go through the similar AP mechanism.
How to explicitly calculate/predict the threshold of membrane potential
which determines to fire an action potential or not? What are the
factors related to threshold?
Thank you very much for your help. I greatly appreciate it.
Best Regards,
Xiaoshen