Membrane Voltage as a Leaky Capacitor in Neurons
Hodgkin and Huxley’s framework treats a neuron’s membrane as a physical device—a leaky capacitor with embedded ion channels—rather than an abstract “black box” that just fires spikes.
Equilibrium Potentials and Driving Force for Ion Currents
Ion species like potassium and sodium, together with their selective membrane channels, shape neuronal currents through a balance of diffusion and electrical forces.
Voltage-Dependent Gating Variables in the Hodgkin–Huxley Model
Individual ion channels in neuronal membranes, composed of protein “gates” that can occupy permissive or non-permissive conformations, collectively determine voltage-dependent conductances.
Hodgkin–Huxley Equations as the Core Neuron Model
Hodgkin and Huxley’s model describes a single neuron as a dynamical system governed by four coupled differential equations: one for membrane voltage and three for gating variables (m, h, n).
Multi-Compartment Extensions of Hodgkin–Huxley Neurons
Computational neuroscientists extend single-compartment Hodgkin–Huxley neurons into multi-compartment models to capture how voltage and currents vary across complex dendritic and axonal trees.