A quantitative comparison between spike-train responses of the Hodgkin-Huxley and integrate-and-fire neurons

TL;DR

This study compares spike-train responses of Hodgkin-Huxley and integrate-and-fire neurons under various input conditions, revealing differences in response variability and the influence of parameters like refractory period and synaptic strength.

Contribution

It provides a detailed quantitative comparison of HH and IF neuron responses to different input types, highlighting the conditions under which they behave similarly or differently.

Findings

IF neuron response depends on refractory period and synaptic strength

HH and IF neurons show different variability patterns

Type-I IF neuron only approximates HH neuron in limited conditions

Abstract

Spike-train responses of single Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) and integrate-and-fire (IF) neurons with and without the refractory period, are calculated and compared. The HH and IF neurons are assumed to receive spike-train inputs with the constant interspike intervals (ISIs) and stochastic ISIs given by the Gamma distribution, through excitatory and inhibitory synaptic couplings: for both the couplings the HH neuron can fire while the IF neuron can only for the excitatory one. It is shown that the response to the constant-ISI inputs of the IF neuron strongly depends on the refractory period and the synaptic strength and that its response is rather different from that of the HH neuron. The variability of HH and IF neurons depends not only on the jitter of the stochastic inputs but also on their mean and the synaptic strength. Even for the excitatory inputs, the type-I IF neuron may be a good substitute of the type-II HH neuron only in the limited parameter range