nsEP are too brief to cause opening of voltage gated ion channels during the applied stimulus; instead, it happens during membrane repolarization after the stimulus. This explains low efficiency of nsEP for stimulation compared to longer stimuli. However, large charging time constant of peripheral nerve fibers makes it possible to elicit action potentials by nsEP without concurrent membrane damage. We explore the utility of nsEP for the excitation of different types of nerve fibers and for the selective conduction block. We also utilize bipolar cancellation of excitation as a tool to measure the critical minimum time for the induction of action potentials.
