Title: Modelling response of excitable cells induced by electromagnetic fields

Authors: Soheil Hashemi; Ali Abdolali

Addresses: Department of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), P.O. Box 1684613114, Narmak, Tehran, 0098, Iran ' Bioelectromagnetics Group, Applied electromagnetic Lab, Iran University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 1684613114, Tehran, 0098, Iran

Abstract: Prediction and targeting of neural stimulation need an accurate analysis to model the activity of the nervous system in the presence of electric field. In this paper, fundamental of neural activity modelling in the vicinity of electric field is explained. The analysis is derived using continuity equation and cable theory. Inaccuracy of the formulation in the literature is also discussed and modified analysis is introduced in detail. Non-destructive external stimulation by a coil stimulator is modelled and simulated by finite difference method. Stimulation performance vs. frequency and geometry of stimulator is discussed. Accurate and authentic neuronal modelling in the presence of induced electric field is deduced only by satisfying Maxwell equations. Unlike our proposed method, most of the researches have not considered this issue. Therefore, at very low frequency, stimulation results show more than 70% difference in calculating the threshold of excitability between the proposed method and the one in the literature.

Keywords: nerve response; electromagnetic field excitation; excitable cells; electromagnetic fields; neural stimulation; nervous system; neural activity modelling; continuity equation; cable theory; simulation; finite difference method; Maxwell equations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCBDD.2017.082811

International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design, 2017 Vol.10 No.1, pp.63 - 78

Received: 20 Jun 2016
Accepted: 05 Oct 2016

Published online: 12 Mar 2017 *

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