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How noise and coupling induce bursting action potentials in pancreatic {beta}-cells
Junghyo Jo1, Hyuk Kang, Moo Young Choi
1Department of Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract:
Unlike isolated beta-cells, which usually produce continuous spikes or fast and irregular bursts, electrically coupled beta-cells are apt to exhibit robust bursting action potentials. We consider the noise induced by thermal fluctuations as well as that by channel-gating stochasticity and examine its effects on the action potential behavior of the beta-cell model. It is observed numerically that such noise in general helps single cells to produce a variety of electrical activities. In addition, we also probe coupling via gap junctions between neighboring cells, with heterogeneity induced by noise, to find that it enhances regular bursts.
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