A model of pulse generation in the peripheral nervous system

A model of pulse generation in the peripheral nervous system is discussed in this paper. The model uses no nonlinear circuit analogues of cellular membrane but rather a direct piecewise linear characterization of the membrane permeability changes and related ionic transport which accompany pulse generation. The relative simplicity of the model notwithstanding, predictions of pulse frequency versus generator potential amplitude relationship and pulse frequency versus pulse amplitude relationship as well as the threshold property of the process are correctly furnished by straight-forward calculations.The research reported here was performed while the author was a visiting faculty member at the California Institute of Technology.