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Updated: Jun 16, 2026
External Excitation of Neurons Using Electric and Magnetic Fields in One- and Two-dimensional Cultures
Published on: May 7, 2017
The effect of spatially inhomogeneous extracellular electric fields on neurons
Costas A Anastassiou1, Sean M Montgomery, Mauricio Barahona
1Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. costas@caltech.edu
Abstract:
The cooperative action of neurons and glia generates electrical fields, but their effect on individual neurons via ephaptic interactions is mostly unknown. Here, we analyze the impact of spatially inhomogeneous electric fields on the membrane potential, the induced membrane field, and the induced current source density of one-dimensional cables as well as morphologically realistic neurons and discuss how the features of the extracellular field affect these quantities. We show through simulations that endogenous fields, associated with hippocampal theta and sharp waves, can greatly affect spike timing. These findings imply that local electric fields, generated by the cooperative action of brain cells, can influence the timing of neural activity.
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