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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Modeling Biological Membranes with Circuit Boards and Measuring Electrical Signals in Axons: Student Laboratory Exercises
Published on: January 19, 2011
On the cable theory of nerve conduction
1STBB, LIMB, NICHD and LCMR, NIMH, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 13, Rm 3E-25, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. itasaki@erols.com
Abstract:
Conduction of an impulse in the nonmyelinated nerve fiber is treated quantitatively by considering it as a direct consequence of the coexistence of two structurally distinct regions, resting and active, in the fiber. The profile of the electrical potential change induced in the vicinity of the boundary between the two regions is analyzed by using the cable equations. Simple mathematical formulae relating the conduction velocity to the electrical parameters of the fiber are derived from the symmetry of the potential profile at the boundary. The factors that determine the conduction velocity in the myelinated nerve fiber are reexamined.
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