Effect of network architecture on burst and spike synchronization in a scale-free network of bursting neurons (original) (raw)

Chaotic phase synchronization in scale-free networks of bursting neurons

Physical Review E, 2007

There is experimental evidence that the neuronal network in some areas of the brain cortex presents the scale-free property, i.e., the neuron connectivity is distributed according to a power law, such that neurons are more likely to couple with other already well-connected ones. From the information processing point of view, it is relevant that neuron bursting activity be synchronized in some weak sense. A coherent output of coupled neurons in a network can be described through the chaotic phase synchronization of their bursting activity. We investigated this phenomenon using a two-dimensional map to describe neurons with spiking-bursting activity in a scale-free network, in particular the dependence of the chaotic phase synchronization on the coupling properties of the network as well as its synchronization with an externally applied time-periodic signal.

Bursting synchronization in scale-free networks

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 2009

Neuronal networks in some areas of the brain cortex present the scale-free property, i.e., the neuron connectivity is distributed according to a power-law, such that neurons are more likely to couple with other already well-connected ones. Neuron activity presents two timescales, a fast one related to action-potential spiking, and a slow timescale in which bursting takes place. Some pathological conditions are related with the synchronization of the bursting activity in a weak sense, meaning the adjustment of the bursting phase due to coupling. Hence it has been proposed that an externally applied time-periodic signal be applied in order to control undesirable synchronized bursting rhythms. We investigated this kind of intervention using a two-dimensional map to describe neurons with spiking-bursting activity in a scale-free network.

Delayed feedback control of bursting synchronization in a scale-free neuronal network

Neural Networks, 2010

Several neurological diseases (e.g. essential tremor and Parkinson's disease) are related to pathologically enhanced synchronization of bursting neurons. Suppression of these synchronized rhythms has potential implications in electrical deep-brain stimulation research. We consider a simplified model of a neuronal network where the local dynamics presents a bursting timescale, and the connection architecture displays the scale-free property (power-law distribution of connectivity). The networks exhibit collective oscillations in the form of synchronized bursting rhythms, without affecting the fast timescale dynamics. We investigate the suppression of these synchronized oscillations using a feedback control in the form of a time-delayed signal. We located domains of bursting synchronization suppression in terms of perturbation strength and time delay, and present computational evidence that synchronization suppression is easier in scale-free networks than in the more commonly studied global (mean-field) networks.

Noise-induced burst and spike synchronizations in an inhibitory small-world network of subthreshold bursting neurons

Cognitive Neurodynamics, 2014

We are interested in noise-induced firings of subthreshold neurons which may be used for encoding environmental stimuli. Noise-induced population synchronization was previously studied only for the case of global coupling, unlike the case of subthreshold spiking neurons. Hence, we investigate the effect of complex network architecture on noise-induced synchronization in an inhibitory population of subthreshold bursting Hindmarsh-Rose neurons. For modeling complex synaptic connectivity, we consider the Watts-Strogatz small-world network which interpolates between regular lattice and random network via rewiring, and investigate the effect of small-world connectivity on emergence of noise-induced population synchronization. Thus, noise-induced burst synchronization (synchrony on the slow bursting time scale) and spike synchronization (synchrony on the fast spike time scale) are found to appear in a synchronized region of the J-D plane (J: synaptic inhibition strength and D: noise intensity). As the rewiring probability p is decreased from 1 (random network) to 0 (regular lattice), the region of spike synchronization shrinks rapidly in the J-D plane, while the region of the burst synchronization decreases slowly. We separate the slow bursting and the fast spiking time scales via frequency filtering, and characterize the noise-induced burst and spike synchronizations by employing realistic order parameters and statistical-mechanical measures introduced in our recent work. Thus, the bursting and spiking thresholds for the burst and spike synchronization transitions are determined in terms of the bursting and spiking order parameters, respectively. Furthermore, we also measure the degrees of burst and spike synchronizations in terms of the statistical-mechanical bursting and spiking measures, respectively.

Transitions to synchrony in coupled bursting neurons

2004

Certain cells in the brain, for example, thalamic neurons during sleep, show spike-burst activity. We study such spike-burst neural activity and the transitions to a synchronized state using a model of coupled bursting neurons. In an electrically coupled network, we show that the increase of coupling strength increases incoherence first and then induces two different transitions to synchronized states, one associated with bursts and the other with spikes.

Burst synchronization transitions in a neuronal network of subnetworks

Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 2011

In this paper, the transitions of burst synchronization are explored in a neuronal network consisting of subnetworks. The studied network is composed of electrically coupled bursting Hindmarsh-Rose neurons. Numerical results show that two types of burst synchronization transitions can be induced not only by the variations of intra-and intercoupling strengths but also by changing the probability of random links between different subnetworks and the number of subnetworks. Furthermore, we find that the underlying mechanisms for these two bursting synchronization transitions are different: one is due to the change of spike numbers per burst, while the other is caused by the change of the bursting type. Considering that changes in the coupling strengths and neuronal connections are closely interlaced with brain plasticity, the presented results could have important implications for the role of the brain plasticity in some functional behavior that are associated with synchronization.

Suppression of bursting synchronization in clustered scale-free (rich-club) neuronal networks

Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 2012

Functional brain networks are composed of cortical areas that are anatomically and functionally connected. One of the cortical networks for which more information is available in the literature is the cat cerebral cortex. Statistical analyses of the latter suggest that its structure can be described as a clustered network, in which each cluster is a scale-free network possessing highly connected hubs. Those hubs are, on their hand, connected together in a strong fashion ("rich-club" network). We have built a clustered scale-free network inspired in the cat cortex structure so as to study their dynamical properties. In this article, we focus on the synchronization of bursting activity of the cortical areas and how it can be suppressed by means of neuron deactivation through suitably applied light pulses. We show that it is possible to effectively suppress bursting synchronization by acting on a single, yet suitably chosen neuron, as long as it is highly connected, thanks to the "rich-club" structure of the network. V

Growth Dynamics Explain the Development of Spatiotemporal Burst Activity of Young Cultured Neuronal Networks in Detail

PLoS ONE, 2012

A typical property of isolated cultured neuronal networks of dissociated rat cortical cells is synchronized spiking, called bursting, starting about one week after plating, when the dissociated cells have sufficiently sent out their neurites and formed enough synaptic connections. This paper is the third in a series of three on simulation models of cultured networks. Our two previous studies [26,27] have shown that random recurrent network activity models generate intra-and interbursting patterns similar to experimental data. The networks were noise or pacemaker-driven and had Izhikevich-neuronal elements with only short-term plastic (STP) synapses (so, no long-term potentiation, LTP, or depression, LTD, was included). However, elevated pre-phases (burst leaders) and after-phases of burst main shapes, that usually arise during the development of the network, were not yet simulated in sufficient detail. This lack of detail may be due to the fact that the random models completely missed network topology .and a growth model. Therefore, the present paper adds, for the first time, a growth model to the activity model, to give the network a time dependent topology and to explain burst shapes in more detail. Again, without LTP or LTD mechanisms. The integrated growth-activity model yielded realistic bursting patterns. The automatic adjustment of various mutually interdependent network parameters is one of the major advantages of our current approach. Spatio-temporal bursting activity was validated against experiment. Depending on network size, wave reverberation mechanisms were seen along the network boundaries, which may explain the generation of phases of elevated firing before and after the main phase of the burst shape.In summary, the results show that adding topology and growth explain burst shapes in great detail and suggest that young networks still lack/do not need LTP or LTD mechanisms.

Emergence of bursting in two coupled neurons of different types of excitability

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 2020

In this manuscript, a spiking neuron of type I excitability and a silent neuron of type II excitability are coupled through a gap junction with unequal coupling strengths, and none of the coupled neurons can burst intrinsically. By applying the theory of dynamical systems (e.g. bifurcation theory), we investigate how the coupling strength affects the dynamics of the neurons, when one of the coupling strengths is fixed and the other varies. We report four different regimes of oscillations as the coupling strength increases. (1) Spike-Spike Phase-Locking, where both neurons are in tonic spiking mode but with different frequencies; (2) Spike-Burst mode, where the type II neuron bursts while the type I neuron remains in tonic spiking mode; (3) Burst-Burst synchronization, where the neurons burst synchronously, i.e., both neurons enter and exit the active phase almost together; (4) Spike-Spike Synchronization, where the neurons synchronize as two oscillators, i.e., they oscillate with equal time period and fraquency. An interesting finding is that there exist two different synchronous behaviours, one of them corresponds to 1 −burst synchronization of the neurons and the other corresponds to the synchronizations of 1 −bursting oscillations in type II neuron and tonic spiking oscillations in type I neuron. Finally it should be pointed out that all through increasing the coupling strength we observe sequences of intermittency in the neurons, which is an abrupt and irregular transition between periodic oscillations and chaotic dynamics.

Stochastic bursting synchronization in a population of subthreshold Izhikevich neurons

Journal of the Korean Physical Society, 2012

We consider a population of subthreshold Izhikevich neurons that cannot fire spontaneously without noise. As the coupling strength passes a threshold, individual neurons exhibit noise-induced burstings (i.e., discrete groups or bursts of noise-induced spikes). We investigate stochastic bursting synchronization by varying the noise intensity. Through competition between the constructive and the destructive roles of noise, collective coherence between noise-induced burstings is found to occur over a large range of intermediate noise intensities. This kind of stochastic bursting synchronization is well characterized by using the techniques of statistical mechanics and nonlinear dynamics, such as the order parameter, the raster plot of neural spikes, the time series of the ensemble-averaged global potential, and the phase portraits of limit cycles. In contrast to spiking neurons showing only spike synchronization (characterizing a temporal relationship between spikes), bursting neurons are found to exhibit both spike synchronization and burst synchronization (characterizing a temporal relationship between the onset times of the active phases of repetitive spikings). The degree of stochastic bursting synchronization is also measured in terms of a synchronization measure that reflects the resemblance of the global potential to the individual potential.