Effects of cooperative ion-channel interactions on the dynamics of excitable membranes.

Cooperative interactions between ion channels are known to exist, but have so far received relatively little attention in the study of excitable membranes. Based on bifurcation analysis and stochastic simulations of an extended Morris-Lecar model, we show that cooperativity and anticooperativity can modify the range of sustained firing and cell-intrinsic noise, induce multistability, and account for a number of experimental observations, including prolongation of action-potential duration. We hypothesize that channel interactions could be an efficient mechanism to regulate the activity of neurons or cardiac muscle cells.