Dynamic finite-element model of axon extracellular stimulation

We study the electrical influence of an electrode over an axon of nonzero thickness in time using a two-dimensional finite element formulation. Although our inspiration comes from the practice of peripheral nerve stimulation, other types of neural tissue excitation can benefit from the model. Our formulation combines a Hodgkin-Huxley model to account for nerve dynamics with electrostatic intra- and extracellular potentials. Thus, the influence of external electrode geometry and parameters can be addressed instead of simplifying them to point current sources. We show first numerical results for different extracellular stimuli and explore future enhancement directions.