Analysis of ionic channel currents under nsPEFs-stimulation by a circuital model of an excitable cell

In this paper, the circuital model of the plasma membrane of a giant squid axon, implementing the Hodgkin and Huxley equations for the initiation of action potentials, is adopted to analyze the behavior of ionic channel currents under ns pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) stimuli. The time behavior of the currents of sodium, potassium and leakage channels is computed upon the application of liminal, subliminal and supraliminal, 100 ns long pulses. The here adopted approach allows to give insight into mechanistic details of electrostimulation of excitable cells by nsPEFs, that has been recently demonstrated by experimental studies.