Synfire chain in a balanced network

We investigate the formation of ordered spatiotemporal activations of pools of neurons in synfire chains (SFC) within a balanced network, both by simulations and by analytic tools. Using a suitable matrix of synaptic connections, we show that the results depend on the ratio between the size of an individual pool of neurons (w) and the total excitatory input of a neuron (K). In our simulations of 10,000 neurons, we obtain an asynchronous-irregular firing mode, which does not sustain a traveling pulse-packet of SFC activity. Our analysis shows that the latter may be expected to exist in larger networks in which very small w/K values can be realized. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.