: $Id$ TITLE passive membrane channel UNITS { (mV) = (millivolt) (mA) = (milliamp) } INDEPENDENT { v FROM -100 TO 50 WITH 50 (mV) } NEURON { SUFFIX Pass NONSPECIFIC_CURRENT i RANGE g, erev } PARAMETER { g = .001 (mho/cm2) erev = -70 (mV) } ASSIGNED { i (mA/cm2)} BREAKPOINT { i = g*(v - erev) VERBATIM in_passiv_breakpoint(); ENDVERBATIM } VERBATIM void in_passiv_breakpoint() {} ENDVERBATIM COMMENT The passive channel is very simple but illustrates several features of the interface to NEURON. As a SCoP or hoc model the NEURON block is ignored. About the only thing you can do with this as an isolated channel in SCoP is plot the current vs the potential. Notice that models require that all variables be declared, The calculation is done in the EQUATION block (This name may eventually be changed to MODEL). The intended semantics of the equation block are that after the block is executed, ALL variables are consistent with the value of the independent variable. In this case, of course a trivial assignment statement suffices. In SCoP, INDEPENDENT gives the name and range of the independent variable, CONSTANT declares variables which generally do not change during solution of the EQUATION block and ASSIGNED declares variables which get values via assignment statements (as opposed to STATE variables whose values can only be determined by solving differential or simultaneous algebraic equations.) The values of CONSTANTS are the default values and can be changed in SCoP. The NEURON block serves as the interface to NEURON. One has to imagine many models linked to NEURON at the same time. Therefore in order to avoid conflicts with names of variables in other mechanisms a SUFFIX is applied to all the declared names that are accessible from NEURON. Accessible CONSTANTS are of two types. Those appearing in the PARAMETER list become range variables that can be used in any section in which the mechanism is "insert"ed. CONSTANT's that do not appear in the PARAMETER list become global scalars which are the same for every section. ASSIGNED variables and STATE variables also become range variables that depend on position in a section. NONSPECIFIC_CURRENT specifies a list of currents not associated with any particular ion but computed by this model that affect the calculation of the membrane potential. I.e. a nonspecific current adds its contribution to the total membrane current. The following neuron program is suitable for investigating the behavior of the channel and determining its effect on the membrane. create a access a nseg = 1 insert Passive g_Passive=.001 erev_Passive=0 proc cur() { axis(0,1,1,0,.001,1) axis() plot(1) for (v=0; v < 1; v=v+.01) { fcurrent() plot(v, i_Passive) } plt(-1) } proc run() { axis(0,3,3,0,1,1) axis() t = 0 v=1 plot(1) while (t < 3) { plot(t,v) fadvance() } } /* the cur() procedure uses the fcurrent() function of neuron to calculate all the currents and conductances with all states (including v) held constant. In the run() procedure fadvance() integrates all equations by one time step. In this case the Passive channel in combination with the default capacitance of 1uF/cm2 give a membrane with a time constant of 1 ms. Thus the voltage decreases exponentially toward 0 from its initial value of 1. ENDCOMMENT