by
Dr Bill Heitler
School of Psychology and Neuroscience,
University of St Andrews,
Scotland, UK.
This tutorial is a guide to the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) model of the action potential, using spreadsheet formulae and graphs in Excel as a readily-available programming tool to implement the model and visualize its features. The Excel samples used in the tutorial are available here.
This is the key publication describing the model:
Hodgkin, A.L. & Huxley, A.F. (1952). A quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerves. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 117, 500-544.
This is one of a series of papers that they produced which give the experimental basis for their model. The papers are quite technical and a bit hard-going even for a neuroscientist, however a gentle introduction is available here:
Hopper, A.J., Beswick-Jones, H. and Brown, A.M., 2022. A color-coded graphical guide to the Hodgkin and Huxley papers. Advances in Physiology Education, 46(4), pp.580-592.
Neurosim: If you would like to see the Hodgkin-Huxley model in action (and a lot more besides) then I cordially invite you to check out my teaching simulation package Neurosim.
Conceptual Summary
Equations for the Model
Integration: a beginner's guide
The HH Model in Excel
Contact author
Author's home page