Modeling Ionic Flow Between Small Targets: Insights from Diffusion and Electro-Diffusion Theory

The flow of ions through permeable channels causes voltage drop in physiological nanodomains such as synapses, dendrites and dendritic spines and other protrusions. How the voltage changes around channels in these nanodomains has remained poorly studied. We focus this chapter on summarizing recent efforts in computing the steady-state current, voltage and ionic concentration distributions based on the Poisson–Nernst–Planck equations as a model of electro-diffusion. We first consider the spatial distribution of an uncharged particle density and derive asymptotic formulas for the concentration difference by solving Laplace’s equation with mixed boundary conditions. We study a constant particle injection rate modeled by a Neumann flux condition at a channel represented by a small boundary target, while the injected particles can exit at one or several narrow patches. We then discuss the case of two species (positive and negative charges) and take into account motions due to both concentration and electrochemical gradients. The voltage resulting from charge interactions is calculated by solving Poisson’s equation. We show how deep an influx diffusion propagates inside a nanodomain, for populations of both uncharged and charged particles. We estimate the concentration and voltage changes in relations with geometrical parameters and quantify the impact of membrane curvature.