title: Scaling law for the transient behavior of type-II neuron models.
abstract: We study the transient regime of type-II biophysical neuron models and determine the scaling behavior of relaxation times tau near but below the repetitive firing critical current, tau approximately or equal to C(I(c)-I)(-Delta). For both the Hodgkin-Huxley and Morris-Lecar models we find that the critical exponent is independent of the numerical integration time step and that both systems belong to the same universality class, with Delta=1/2. For appropriately chosen parameters, the FitzHugh-Nagumo model presents the same generic transient behavior, but the critical region is significantly smaller. We propose an experiment that may reveal nontrivial critical exponents in the squid axon.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Física Teórica e Computacional, Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil.
authors.forename: M A D
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Roa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Copelli
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kinouchi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Caticha
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D049832:Decapodiformes; D004056:Differential Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors