The Neuron Simulation Program

This article describes a nerve simulation program, called “NEURON”, developed in collaboration with John W. Moore at Duke University. NEURON was designed for two kinds of problems: 1) where cable properties of cells play an important role, possibly including extracellular potential close to the membrane, and 2) where cell membrane properties are complex, involving many ion-specific channels and ion accumulation. NEURON can be used to simulate networks of neurons but since the user interface does not have network specific syntax this is only appropriate when the network contains neurons involving electrotonic spread of current or complex membrane response properties.