Figure 5

Graphic summary of the total propagation time (TPT) through the network of 100 cells as a function of the number of transverse gj-channels (A) or the number of longitudinal gj-channels (B). TPT is the difference between the times when the APs of cell #A1 and the last cell on the J chain crossed a V_m of 0 mV. The shorter the TPT, the faster the propagation velocity. Assuming a gj-channel conductance of 100 pS, the R_gj values of 10, 100, 1,000 and 100,000 MΩ correspond to 1,000, 100, 10 and 0 gj-channels, respectively. As in Figures 3 and 4, the graphic plots in panel A show that when there were no or few (0 or 10) longitudinal gj-channels, adding many transverse gj-channels had no effect on TPT. In contrast, when there were many longitudinal channels (100 or 1,000), adding many transverse channels markedly shortened the TPT. Panel B, which is a replot of the data in panel A, demonstrates that in the absence of transverse gj-channels, the TPT was actually slightly increased when there were many gj-channels (100 or 1,000).