EE 516 BIOMEDICAL SYSTEMS

Assignment-3

1. The voltage along an axon is as shown in figure 1 at some instant of time. The radius of the axon
is 10µm. The resistivity of the axoplasm is 0.5Ωm. What is the longitudinal current of the axon as
a function of position?

Figure 1

2. Sometimes an organ is lined with a single layer of flat cells. Experimenters may then apply a time
varying voltage across the sheet of cells and measure the resulting current. The cells are packed
so tightly that one model for them is two layers of insulating membrane of dielectric constant ᴋ
and thickness b that behave like a capacitor, separated by intracellular fluid of thickness a and
resistivity ρ. Find a differential equation that relates the total voltage difference across the layer of
cells v(t) to the current per unit area through the layer, j(t) in terms of ᴋ, ρ, k the membrane
thickness b and the intracellular thickness a.

3. The current that appears to go “into” a section of membrane is made up of two parts: that which
charge the membrane capacitance and that which is a leakage current through the membrane:
v dv
i C
R dt
Suppose that the total current is sinusoidal:
i  I 0 cos t
(a) Show that the voltage must be of the form
v  I 0 R' cos t  I 0 X sin t
and the differential equation is satisfied only if
R
R' 
1   RC 
2 2

 RC 
X R
1   2 RC 
2

(b) What happens to R' and X as   0 and    ? For what value of  X is a maximum?
What is the corresponding value of R' ? Plot these points.
R
(c) Prove that the locus of X versus R' is a semicircle, centered at X  0, R '  .
2
4. Consider the cable model of an unmyelinated axon of infinite length. Write a MATLAB program
to simulate the cable model of axon. You may consider the following model parameters:
Axon radius = 5x10-6 m
Membrane thickness = 6x10-9 m
Resistivity of axoplasm = 0.5 Ωm
Dielectric constant = 7
Resistivity of membrane = 1.6x107 Ωm
Capacitance per unit area = 10-2 Fm-2
Resting potential inside axon = -70 mV

(a) Observe the voltage along the axon when the membrane capacitance is fully charged and
V ( x, t )  V r x
V  Vr  V0 at x  0 . You may obtain a normalized plot of versus .
V0 
  
(b) Simulate the voltage along the axon at different times  t  , t   , t  , t   after the
 2 4
application of a constant current at x  0 . Can you infer something based on the observations
of part (a) and part (b)?
(c) Obtain a plot showing the voltage at a fixed point on the axon  x  0, x   , x  2  as a
function of time for the same excitation as in part (b). You may obtain a normalized plot of
V ( x, t )  V r t
versus .
V0 

5. Write a MATLAB program to model a space clamped axon at 6.30C using Hodgkin-Huxley’s
electrical model of neuron. You may consider the following model parameters:
Sodium Nernst potential = 50 mV
Potassium Nernst potential = -77 mV
Resting potential inside neuron = -65mV.
Membrane capacitance per unit area = 10-6 Fcm-2
The rate constants  m ,  m ,  n ,  n ,  h ,  h are parameterized on the clamping voltage as follows:
0.125  V  Vr 
m 
 25  V  Vr  
exp   1
 10 
  V  Vr  
 m  4 exp 
 18 
0.0110  V  Vr 
n 
 10  V  Vr  
exp   1
 10 
  V  Vr  
 m  0.125 exp 
 80 
   V  Vr  
 h  0.07 exp  
 20 
1
h 
 30  V  Vr  
exp   1
 10 

(a) At time t  0 , the voltage is raised by +26mV from the resting potential. Obtain a plot
showing the sodium and potassium conductivities as a function of time.
(b) Repeat part (a) for clamping voltages of -50mV, -40mV, -30mV and -20mV.
(c) Suppose the neuron is at resting potential. A current stimulus of 10-4 Acm-2 is applied
between 0.5 ms and 0.6 ms. Compute and tabulate the membrane potential, membrane current
density, sodium and potassium conductivities, sodium and potassium current densities and
leakage current density in steps of 0.1 ms from 0 to 5 ms.
(d) Obtain the plot for results obtained in part (c).
(e) Repeat parts (c) and (d) for the neuron temperature raised to 18.50C.
(f) Repeat parts (c), (d) and (e) for a constant current stimulus of 10-4 Acm-2 instead of the gated
pulse as given in part (c).
(g) Repeat parts (a) through (f) eliminating the potassium current. Comment on the new shape of
the resulting pulse. What is your observation regarding the resting potential? Explain your
inference based on the observation.