It would be generally agreed that the essential function of neurones in generating and discharging impulses depends primarily on their electrophysiological properties. It is proposed firstly to give an account of a model of a neurone or rather the specifications for a model that will be shown later to give responses that are indistinguishable from those given by neurones under a wide variety of conditions. The specifications for this model are derived partly by inference from experiments on neurones, particularly intracellular recording, and partly on analogy from investigations on single giant axons and muscle fibres and the inferences derivable therefrom (Hodgkin, 1951). There is much evidence that other neurones resemble motoneurones, but for present purposes it will be sufficient to show that it is possible to specify a satisfactory electrophysiological model of a motoneurone.
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J. C. Eccles (1952) studied this question.