Cable theory
Classical cable theory uses mathematical models to calculate the electric current (and accompanying voltage) along passive neurites, particularly the dendrites that receive synaptic inputs at different sites and times. Estimates are made by modeling dendrites and axons as cylinders composed of segments with capacitances and resistances combined in parallel (see Fig. 1). The capacitance of a neuronal fiber comes about because electrostatic forces are acting through the very thin lipid bilayer (see Figure 2). The resistance in series along the fiber is due to the axoplasm's significant resistance to movement of electric charge. Cable theory in computational neuroscience has roots leading back to the 1850s, when Professor William Thomson (later known as Lord Kelvin) began developing mathematical models of signal decay in submarine (underwater) telegraphic cables. The models resembled the partial differential equations used by Fourier to describe heat conduction in a wire. The 1870s saw the first attempts by Hermann to model neuronal electrotonic potentials also by focusing on analogies with heat conduction. However, it was Hoorweg who first discovered the analogies with Kelvin's undersea cables in 1898 and then Hermann and Cremer who independently developed the cable theory for neuronal fibers in the early 20th century. Further mathematical theories of nerve fiber conduction based on cable theory were developed by Cole and Hodgkin (1920s–1930s), Offner et al. (1940), and Rushton (1951). Experimental evidence for the importance of cable theory in modelling the behavior of axons began surfacing in the 1930s from work done by Cole, Curtis, Hodgkin, Sir Bernard Katz, Rushton, Tasaki and others. Two key papers from this era are those of Davis and Lorente de Nó (1947) and Hodgkin and Rushton (1946). The 1950s saw improvements in techniques for measuring the electric activity of individual neurons. Thus cable theory became important for analyzing data collected from intracellular microelectrode recordings and for analyzing the electrical properties of neuronal dendrites.
