On noise modeling in a nerve fibre

We present a novel mathematical approach to model noise in dynamical systems. We do so by considering the dynamics of a chain of diffusively coupled Nagumo cells affected by noise. We show that the noise in a variable representing the transmembrane current can be effectively modeled as fluctuations in the model parameters corresponding to electric resistance and capacitance of the membrane. These fluctuations may account for the interactions between the membrane and the surrounding (physiological) solution as well as for the thermal effects. The proposed approach to model noise in a nerve fibre is an alternative to the standard technique based on the consideration of additive stochastic current perturbation (the Langevin type equations) and differs from it in important mathematical aspects, particularly, it points out to the non-Markov dynamics of transmembrane potential. Our scheme relates to a time scale which is shorter than the relaxation times of involved physiological processes. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.