Temperature dependence of oscillation in squid axons: comparison of experiments with computations

Abstract

The temperature dependence of the oscillatory behavior of experimental and computed axons was compared. In the experimental study of space-clamped giant axons of the squid, small oscillations after a single threshold spike were measured using the double glucose gap over the temperature range 10 degrees -30 degrees C during treatment with three concentrations of external CaCl(2) solutions. Calcium concentration had little effect on frequency, as was found also by Huxley in his computations at 18.5 degrees C for a fiber at rest. The Q(10) both for the experimental and for the computed axon of FitzHugh was 2.25. The experimental measurements of the frequency of oscillations near threshold agree extremely well with the Hodgkin-Huxley calculations.