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Biophys. J. BioFAST: First Published July 1, 2005. doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.053181
© 2005 by the Biophysical Society.

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BIOPHYSICAL THEORY AND MODELING

How Noise and Coupling Induce Bursting Action Potentials in Pancreatic {beta}-cells

Junghyo Jo 1, Hyuk Kang 1, Moo Young Choi 1* and Duk-Su Koh 2

1 Seoul National University
2 Pohang University of Science and Technology

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mychoi{at}snu.ac.kr.

Submitted on November 11, 2004
Revised on January 16, 2005
Accepted on 6 June 2005


  Abstract
Unlike isolated {beta}-cells, which usually produce continuous spikes or fast and irregular bursts, electrically coupled {beta}-cells are apt to exhibit robust bursting action potentials. We consider the noise induced by thermal fluctuations as well as that by channel gating stochasticity and examine its effects on the action potential behavior of the {beta}-cell model. It is observed numerically that such noise in general helps single cells to produce a variety of electrical activities. In addition, we also probe coupling via gap junctions between neighboring cells, with heterogeneity induced by noise, to find that it enhances regular bursts.

Key Words: channel gating stochasticity, gap junction, heterogeneity, thermal fluctuations




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J. Jo, M. Y. Choi, and D.-S. Koh
Size Distribution of Mouse Langerhans Islets
Biophys. J., October 15, 2007; 93(8): 2655 - 2666.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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Copyright © 2005 by the Biophysical Society.