[Modelling of biological encoding mechanisms as a system with distributed parameters]

The encoder region in receptors and neurons is represented by the inhomogeneous origin of the axon. The axon diameter and the excitability are in fact space-dependent. For the analysis the soma is described by a system with concentrated parameters followed by an inhomogeneous axon. The membrane properties are approximated by the slightly modified Hodgkin-Huxley equations. The assumption that the space-dependence of the excitability originates in variations of the conductance value for sodium ions accounts for a number of experimental results. The influence of other membrane parameters upon the mechanism of impulse generation and transmission has also been analysed.