Fig 6.

Stochastic sampling from a population of refractory mechanosensitive channels (MSCs) can produce ‘sensory habituation’ in a mechanoreceptor’s tension-induced-current profile, i.e. the first episode of response is larger than the second (A). Two episodes of the same extension pattern were applied sequentially to stimulate the modelled muscle spindle (C), evoking two episodes of same tension responses (B). However, the first episode of tension-induced-current response is larger than the second. The mechanisms underlying this ‘sensory habituation’ are still a mystery. Here, stochastic sampling from a population of refractory MSCs can reproduce to some extent the ‘sensory habituation’ effect. The reason is because while many MSCs are still refractory from responding to the first episode of stimulus, fewer MSCs are left to respond to the second episode of stimulus.