Etiology of the supernormal period.

In many excitable cells, there is a time after the action potential when the threshold for eliciting a second action potential is lower than it is in the steady state. The Hodgkin and Huxley (1952) equations predict such a supernormal period. Using their model, it is shown that the supernormal period results from the slow kinetics of the potassium current and does not depend on sodium current activation or inactivation or on the after-depolarization.