Electrophysiological damage to neuronal membrane alters ephaptic entrainment

The brain is commonly understood as a complex network system with a particular organization and topology that can result in specific electrophysiological patterns. Among all the dynamic elements resulting from the circuits of the brain's network, ephapticity is a cellular communication mechanism that has received little attention. To understand the network's properties of ephaptic entrainment, we start investigating the ephaptic effect on a single neuron. In this study, we used numerical simulations to examine the relationship between alterations in ephaptic neuronal entrainment and impaired electrophysiological properties of the neuronal membrane, which can occur via spike field coherence (SFC). This change in frequency band amplitude is observed in some neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. To further investigate these phenomena, we proposed a damaged model based on the impairment of both the resistance of the ion channels and the capacitance of the lipid membrane. Therefore, we simulated ephaptic entrainment with the hybrid neural model quadratic integrate-and-fire ephaptic (QIF-E), which mimics an ephaptic entrainment generated by an LFP (simulate a neuronal group). Our results indicate a link between peak entrainment (ephapticity) preference and a shift in frequency band when damage occurs mainly in ion channels. Finally, we discuss possible relationships between ephaptic entrainment and neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging factors.

Automated summary

The brain is a complex network system with specific organization and topology, and it exhibits specific electrophysiological patterns. However, the cellular communication mechanism known as ephapticity has been understudied. In this study, we used numerical simulations to examine the relationship between ephaptic neuronal entrainment and impaired electrophysiological properties, which can be observed in neurodegenerative diseases. Our results indicate that damage to ion channels can affect ephaptic entrainment, suggesting a potential link between ephapticity and aging-related neurodegenerative diseases.