Modelling of the enteric nervous network: 3. Adrenergic neuron.

A mathematical model is developed to investigate the coupled electrochemical processes of nerve-pulse transmission via adrenergic synapse. Based on pharmacological and morphophysiological data, the model describes the dynamics of the propagation of the electric signal along the unmyelinated geometrically non-uniform axon of the neuron and the chemical mechanisms of the transformation of the electrical signal in the synaptic zone into the post-synaptic output. The combined nonlinear system of partial and ordinary differential equations has been obtained and solved numerically. The results of computer simulation of the function of the idealized adrenergic neuron quantitatively and qualitatively describe the dynamics of Ca2+ ion influx into the terminal, noradrenaline release from the free 'releasable' store, its diffusion into the synaptic cleft, binding with the adrenoceptors on the pre- and post-synaptic structures with the generation of the inhibitory post-synaptic potential, and utilization of noradrenaline by neuronal and non-neuronal capture mechanisms.