Energy expenditure computation of a single bursting neuron

Abstract

Brief bursts of high-frequency spikes are a common firing pattern of neurons. The cellular mechanisms of bursting and its biological significance remain a matter of debate. Focusing on the energy aspect, this paper proposes a neural energy calculation method based on the Chay model of bursting. The flow of ions across the membrane of the bursting neuron with or without current stimulation and its power which contributes to the change of the transmembrane electrical potential energy are analyzed here in detail. We find that during the depolarization of spikes in bursting this power becomes negative, which was also discovered in previous research with another energy model. We also find that the neuron’s energy consumption during bursting is minimal. Especially in the spontaneous state without stimulation, the total energy consumption (2.152 × 10−7 J) during 30 s of bursting is very similar to the biological energy consumption (2.468 × 10−7 J) during the generation of a single action potential, as shown in Wang et al. (Neural Plast 2017, 2017a). Our results suggest that this property of low energy consumption could simply be the consequence of the biophysics of generating bursts, which is consistent with the principle of energy minimization. Our results also imply that neural energy plays a critical role in neural coding, which opens a new avenue for research of a central challenge facing neuroscience today.

Upper Limit on the Thermodynamic Information Content of an Action Potential

“…Rather, this quantity is an upperend estimate of the total energy required to prepare the neuron for depolarization by establishing an ion concentration gradient along the entire length of the axon. This line of reasoning is consistent with the idea that spike initiation itself requires relatively little energy, as there is useful energy stored in ion concentration gradients (Zhu et al, 2019). In order not to violate any laws of thermodynamics, a neuron using this quantity of energy to send information with an action potential must ultimately expend at least this quantity of energy, per action potential, over the entire cycle of action potential propagation and membrane potential restoration:…”

Dynamic Transitions in Neuronal Network Firing Sustained by Abnormal Astrocyte Feedback

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Neural coupling mechanism in fMRI hemodynamics

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