Journal
COGNITIVE NEURODYNAMICS
Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 239-250Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11571-011-9179-4
Keywords
Slow oscillations; Mean-field theory; IF neuron networks; Bifurcation analysis; Relaxation oscillators; Up and Down states; Cortical rhythms
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Funding
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) [BFU2008-01371/BFI]
- ICREA Funding Source: Custom
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Rhythms at slow (< 1 Hz) frequency of alternating Up and Down states occur during slow-wave sleep states, under deep anaesthesia and in cortical slices of mammals maintained in vitro. Such spontaneous oscillations result from the interplay between network reverberations nonlinearly sustained by a strong synaptic coupling and a fatigue mechanism inhibiting the neurons firing in an activity-dependent manner. Varying pharmacologically the excitability level of brain slices we exploit the network dynamics underlying slow rhythms, uncovering an intrinsic anticorrelation between Up and Down state durations. Besides, a non-monotonic change of Down state duration is also observed, which shrinks the distribution of the accessible frequencies of the slow rhythms. Attractor dynamics with activity-dependent self-inhibition predicts a similar trend even when the system excitability is reduced, because of a stability loss of Up and Down states. Hence, such cortical rhythms tend to display a maximal size of the distribution of Up/Down frequencies, envisaging the location of the system dynamics on a critical boundary of the parameter space. This would be an optimal solution for the system in order to display a wide spectrum of dynamical regimes and timescales.
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