Stochastic Resonance and Optimal Clustering for Assemblies of Ion Channels

We consider the statistical properties of action potentials generated by clusters of sodium and potassium channels due to channel noise and/or external stimulation. Since the fluctuations are related to the cluster size, a size-resonance effect — analog to stochastic resonance — is observed that facilitates optimal decoding of small external stimuli at optimal cluster sizes. Furthermore, in analogy to the coherence resonance effect, the channel-noise induced firing patterns exhibit a resonant-like temporal coherence as a function of the cluster size even in the absence of a periodic stimulus. In the presence of additional synaptic noise, SR occurs only for large cluster sizes which possess suboptimal internal noise levels.