Synchronization stability and firing transitions in two types of class I neuronal networks with short-term plasticity

This paper investigates synchronization stability and firing transition in two types of the modified canonical class I neuronal networks, where the short-term plasticity of synapse is introduced. We mainly consider both unidirectional chain and global coupling configurations. Previous studies have shown that the coupled class I neurons can spontaneously de-synchronize. Presently, the short-term plasticity of synapse is considered to check the universality of this phenomenon. Based on the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, it is shown that unidirectionally chain coupled class I neurons can realize synchronization, whereas bidirectionally coupled chain neurons cannot synchronize, and globally coupled class I neurons de-synchronize. Furthermore, the dynamics of coupled neurons with different firing modes are also studied in numerical simulations, and interesting transitions of different firing modes can be induced by the short-term plasticity. The obtained results can be helpful to further understand important effects of the short-term synaptic plasticity on realistic neuronal systems. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.