1 Here you have the software name and the version you are using, the type of your

license agreement (demo version or full functioning version) and also your name and
city in case of demo versions or the name of your department and university in case of full versions.

2a This tells you that the recordings are based

on simplified Hodgkin-Huxley type equations
(see the description of the Neuron Editor).

2b If you have the full user-rights, you can This graph display the voltage response
select here between different types of neurons and the Na+- and K+-conductance by
(see the description of the Neuron Editor). activated box from 8c
2c Click here to go to the “Neuron Editor”
module where you can change the parameters
to develop and save new types of neurons and
also change the password and the folder path
where all the types of neurons have to be
reloaded or saved. Note that this module is
password protected.
This diagram is to adjust the current stimulus.
3a This buttons are to switch between the
This graph display the Na+- and K+-current by
current-clamp and the voltage-clamp lab. The
activated box from 8d
selected will automatically appear on 3b
where the lab is short described. The Button
“RC Compens”, for the leak-voltage
compensation, will only be activated in the
voltage-clamp lab.
5 Activation of “TTX” simulates the block of Na+-currents and 8a, 8b, 9 click on one of the numbers to changes
4 Press the green “Apply Stimulus” button will “TEA” the K+-currents. ordinates or abscissa scaling for the diagram.
start the simulation. Activation of the SAVE 8c, 8d the numbers to scale the ordinates of the
button keeps your recordings on the screen. 7 this toolbar have several buttons. Click on EXIT will close the
respective curves are only visible when the boxes for
Pressing the CLEAR button erases all lab. Click on the SQUARE button change the lab in full-screen-
the conductances and the currents are checked. This
recordings and the UNDO button only the last mode. Click on TUTORIAL opens the first “SimNeuronTutorial”
checkboxes are disabled when the student’s mode is
recording. from the folder, where the Lab was started. Note that the available
activated. Note that to activate the student’s mode
file-extensions are .pdf, .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx and .odt. Click on
6 Picture of the selected principle you just need to keep the entry to the Neuron-Editor
PROTOCOL do the same like tutorial but opens
password protected.
experimental set-up. By click on the picture, a “SimNeuronProtocol”. No VIDEO is now available. Click on SAVE
message-box will pop up and you can generate saves all the recordings with the ordinate values. By SOUND ON
a new random neuron and the neuron name every spike will ring. INFO gives you a brief overview of the
(Neuron #1234) will appear in 2b. contributors.
1 the red curve is the whole measured current. 2 the green line is the K+-
current and is only shown when the checkbox is activated. 3 is the Na+-current.
4 represents the Na+-conductance and 5 the K+-conductance. With a left mouse
pressed (LMP) on 6, the arrow will appear and it is possible to change the
impulse duration. The time duration is display as show below e.g. “<6.00>”,
which means 6 milliseconds impulse duration. A right mouse pressed (RMP)
on 6 allows you to change the delay and also doesn’t change the duration time.
LMP on 7 changes the amplitude of the command voltage. The command
voltage will automatically be showed. LMP on 8 changes the amplitude of the
hold voltage.
1 the blue curve is the measured membrane potential. 2 the green line is the
K+-conductance and is only show when the checkbox is activated. 3 is the Na+-
conductance. 4 represents the K+-current and 5 the Na+-current. With a left
mouse pressed (LMP) on 6, the arrow will appear and it is possible to change
the impulse duration. The time duration is display as show below e.g. “<6.00>”,
which means 6 milliseconds impulse duration. A right mouse pressed (RMP)
on 6 allows you to change the delay and also doesn’t change the duration time.
LMP on 7 changes the amplitude of the command voltage. The command
voltage will automatically be showed.
1 this is the list of all neurons that are saved in a specific folder. 2 by selecting a neuron
in the list, the neuron name will automatically appear as a filename and all the diagrams
will be updated. 3 Note that every random neuron have an identifier number e.g.
NEURON #11383. Just changing one of the parameters changes the neuron name to “xxx
*test*”. 4a Click on SAVE create a new file or overwrite it, if the file already exists. The
default folder path is the path where the program was started. If the program has been
installed in a folder with administrative rights and the user doesn’t have it. It is
recommended to change the folder path however the program will not work properly.
CANCEL goes back directly to the main module and delete the last unsaved changes. DEL
removes the neuron from the list and also the file from the folder path. 4b Click on this
button make possible to change the path where the new neuron will be save. A copy of
the standard neuron will be created. It is also possible to copy all the neurons from the
older path to the new ones. 9 TO THE LAB go to main module. 5 this button allows you
to search a neuron by his name, identification number. When a neuron name is find, it
will be directly selected und the diagrams will be updated. 6A is an illustration of a cell

membrane with diverse ions and ion channels and 6B shows a technical circuitry

representing the cell membrane capacitance and different ion channels. 7 directly

derives from the circuitry, shows the simplified Hodgkin-Huxley type equations. 8 Click
on CHANGE PWD open a new module where the new password replaces the old one.
With checked ASK PWD the Neuron Editor is password protected, conductances and
currents can’t be showed.
1 indicates the size of the neuron in µm². The size is coupled with the
membrane capacitance in nF on 2. To change the equilibrium potential you
need to change the ion concentrations inside and outside the cell. 3a The
scrollbar increase or decrease the value inside the edit box. It is possible to
change directly the value in the edit box. 3b The values are fixed in the
interval between 0 and 300. Green indicates K+ and blue Na+. The squares
right (respectively left) from the edit box shows how much mMol/L
concentration has been used so far. 4a the arrow represents the direction of
the measured current. The calculated equilibrium potential (see Nernst-
equations) in dependence of the ion concentrations in- and outside the cell
is display not only beside the arrow but also in the diagram on the left side.
4b all from the Nernst-equations calculated equilibrium potentials are
showed in the I/U-diagram. The dots represent the value of the potential on
the x axis. The lines give the linear differences between the potentials and
the currents in dependences with the respective conductances. The values
changes automatically when the ion concentrations changed. The same
buttons like 3a are used by 5 to change the conductance. Note that the sum
of “gL_K” and “gL_Na” gives the leak-conductance “gL” 6 and described the
number of leak ion channels which are necessary to stabilize the membrane
to his equilibrium potential calculated and displayed in 7. The equilibrium
potential change his value when the ion concentrations inside in comparison
with outside and vice versa also change to the know values.
Numerical parameter values of the voltage dependent currents (left) and graphical representations of steady state activation curves and time dependencies (right):
This model comprises only two voltage dependent currents for action potential generation; I_Na and I_K. g_max indicates the maximum conductance that can be
reached when all ion channels are in the open state. . 1 steady-state voltage dependencies of ion conductances given by Boltzman functions that are determined by the
half-(in-)activation potentials V_h and the slopes s at half activation: 2a: Na+-inactivation, 2b: Na+-activation, 2c: K+-activation, 3: Time dependencies determining the
delays of ion-current (in-)activation.

For the voltage clamp lab: The gain of the voltage-clamp feedback loop can be changed 4 and the real membrane potential can be plotted in addition to the command
potential 4 although they mostly should be identical
4 the voltage clamp gain is used for the RC compensation. In this lab you don’t need to change this value manually. 5 checked this button allow you to display the
membrane potential trying to regain the value of the hold and command potential when the compensation button is not activated.