BACKGROUND The precise temporal control of neuronal action potentials is essential for regulating many brain functions. From the viewpoint of a neuron, the specific timings of afferent input from the action potentials of its synaptic partners determines whether or not and when that neuron will fire its own action potential. Tuning such input would provide a powerful mechanism to adjust neuron f...

A model of one-dimensional action potential propagation was used to compare activation times and recovery times measured from simulated unipolar and bipolar electrograms with the activation and recovery times measured from simulated transmembrane action potentials. Theory predicts that the intrinsic deflection--the time of the maximum negative slope of the unipolar electrogram QRS complex--corr...