... Here we examine the loss of synchrony caused by an increase in inhibitory coupling in networks of type-I Morris–Lecar model oscillators, which is characterized by a period-doubling cascade and leads to mode-locked states with alternation in the firing order of the two cells, as reported recently by Maran and Canavier (J Comput Nerosci, 2008) for a network of Wang-Buzsáki model neurons. Although alternating-order firing has been previously reported as a near-synchronous state, we show that the stable phase difference between the spikes of the two Morris–Lecar cells can constitute as much as 70% of the unperturbed oscillation period. Further, we examine the generality of this phenomenon for a class of type-I oscillators that are close to their excitation thresholds, and provide an intuitive geometric description of such “leap-frog” dynamics. ..."

Model Type: Realistic Network

Cell Type(s): Abstract Morris-Lecar neuron

Model Concept(s): Activity Patterns; Temporal Pattern Generation; Synchronization; Simplified Models

Simulation Environment: MATLAB (web link to model)

References:

Oh M, Matveev V. (2009). Loss of phase-locking in non-weakly coupled inhibitory networks of type-I model neurons. Journal of computational neuroscience. 26 [PubMed]