Diameter of axon above which spontaneous action potentials begin to appear

Range 0.15 to 0.3 μm
Organism Eukaryotes
Reference Faisal AA, White JA, Laughlin SB. Ion-channel noise places limits on the miniaturization of the brain's wiring. Curr Biol. 2005 Jun 21 15(12):1143-9. p.1145 left column bottom paragraphPubMed ID15964281
Comments "[Researchers'] simulations show that in both types of axon, significant numbers of SAPs start to appear (>0.02 SAP/s) at a critical diameter of 0.15–0.3µm (Figure 1A). These values are considerably lower than previous theoretical estimates because [researchers] used newer data on single-channel properties [4] and more accurate models of channel kinetics [5], which accounts for the different closed states of ion channels in [their] simulations."
Entered by Uri M
ID 109234