Using Higuchi’s fractal dimension in fine analysis of the effects of 2.7 mT and 10 mT static magnetic fields on the complex bursting activity of the snail BR neuron

Abstract

The components of complex bioelectrical activity – action potential (AP), interspike interval (ISI) and the quiet interburst interval (IBI), along with the effects of 2.7 mT and 10 mT static magnetic fields, were identified and examined in the spontaneously active Br neuron of the subesophageal ganglion complex of the garden snail Helix pomatia by fractal analysis using Higuchi’s fractal dimension (FD). The normalized mean of the empirical FD distributions of bursting activity of the Br neuron were formed under different experimental conditions: before (Control), during (MF), and after exposure to the static magnetic field (AMF). Using the fractal analysis method for the first time, a separation of the AP, ISI and IBI components was successfully achieved. Our results show that fractal analysis with deconvolution of the normalized mean of the empirical FD distributions into Gaussian functions is a useful tool for revealing the effects of magnetic fields on the complexity of neuronal bioelectric activity and its AP, ISI and IBI components.