Response of the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron to a periodic sequence of biphasic pulses

Abstract

We study the response of the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron stimulated periodically by biphasic rectangular current pulses. The optimal response for charge-balanced input is obtained for cathodic-first pulses with an inter-phase gap (IPG) approximately equal 5 ms. For short pulses the topology of the global bifurcation diagram in the period-amplitude plane is approximately invariant with respect to the pulse polarity and shape details. If stimuli are delivered at neuron's resonant frequencies the firing rate is a continuous function of pulse amplitude. At nonresonant frequencies the quiescent state and the firing state coexist over a range of amplitude values and the transition to excitability is a discontinuous one. There is a multimodal odd-all transition between the 2:1 and 3:1 locked-in states. A strong antiresonant effect is found between the states 3:1 and 4:1, where the modes (2+3n):1, $n=0,1,2,...$, are entirely absent. At high frequencies the excitation threshold is a nonmonotonic function of the stimulus and the perithreshold region is bistable, with the quiescent state coexisting with either a regular or chaotic firing.