https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2017-70024-6
Regular Article
A critical firing rate associated with tonic-to-bursting transitions in synchronized gap-junction coupled neurons
1 Department of Physics, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790, USA
2 School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790, USA
3 School of Physics, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
4 Institute of Physiology, University of Marburg, 35037 Marburg, Germany
a e-mail: erosa@ilstu.edu
Received: 31 January 2017
Revised: 9 March 2017
Published online: 21 June 2017
A transition between tonic and bursting neuronal behaviors is studied using a linear chain of three electrically coupled model neurons. Numerical simulations show that, depending on their individual dynamical states, the neurons first synchronize either in a tonic or in a bursting regime. Additionally, a characteristic firing rate, mediating tonic-to-bursting transitions in networked neurons, is found to be associated with a firing rate encountered in the single neuron's equivalent transition. A few cases describing this peculiar phenomenon are presented.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2017
