Neuroengineering modeling of single neuron and neural interface.

The single neuron has attracted widespread attention as an elementary unit for understanding the electrophysiological mechanisms of nervous systems and for exploring the functions of biological neural networks. Over the past decades, much modeling work on neural interface has been presented in support of experimental findings in neural engineering. This article reviews the recent research results on modeling electrical activities of the single neuron, electrical synapse, neuromuscular junction, and neural interfaces at cochlea. Single neuron models vary form to illustrate how neurons fire and what the firing patterns mean. Focusing on these two questions, recent modeling work on single neurons is discussed. The modeling of neural receptors at inner and outer hair cells is examined to explain the transforming procedure from sounds to electrical signals. The low-pass characteristics of electrical synapse and neuromuscular junction are also discussed in an attempt to understand the mechanism of electrical transmission across the interfaces.