Figure 1.
Model predictions for the burst-promoting action of BK channels. A, spiking activity obtained with the pituitary cell model in the absence of BK conductance. Left, Membrane potential time course. Right, Distribution of event duration. All the events are spikes, so the burstiness is null (BF = 0). B, For gBK = 0.5 nS, spike amplitude is reduced and a few large duration events (i.e., bursts) are produced; burstiness has increased to 0.34. The vertical line separates events between spikes and bursts. C, For gBK = 1 nS, the model produces only bursts with small amplitude spikes on top of a plateau, typical of pituitary cells (BF = 1). D, Burstiness increases with gBK (τBK = 5 ms). E, Burstiness decreases with τBK (gBK = 1 nS). BF, Burstiness factor.