A model to account for firing behaviour of neurons stimulated by rectangular and sinusoidal currents

In biological systems the information is coded in terms of the interval between successive action potentials. Nerve and sensory cells are able to transform an external stimulus into a train of action potentials. The sequence of produced action potentials is, in some way, related to the action, but little is known about the mechanisms responsible for this coding process. A way to study these mechanisms is to apply different, known stimuli to the nerve cell and to observe the resulting electrical activity of the cell. Much emphasis, in particular, has been placed on the use of cyclic stimuli which are a natural mean of exciting a system whose parameters vary periodically. This paper is concerned with the responses of Helix pomatia neurons stimulated with rectangular and sinusoidal currents with the aim to verify a mathematical model able to describe adaptation in discharge frequency that has been demonstrated in Helix neurons.