Double barrier quantal model of neurotransmitter release.

As an extension of the particle concept in the quantitative descriptive of an entire neurotransmitter population, which participates in quanta release from the terminal, an improved system of quantal postulates is suggested. An essential aspect of the corresponding double barrier quantal model is its nonstationarity, resulting from combined application of binomial and Yule-Furry statistics. Results of the computer simulations show that the model combines enough ingredients to reproduce, with fair accuracy, the main characteristic features of short-term changes of synaptic efficacy under the different conditions of presynaptic stimulation. With quantitative analysis and simulation of short-term facilitation, the synaptic resonance phenomenon is theoretically predicted: different resonant frequencies are found at different levels of facilitation.