Modelling the restoration of activity in a biological neural network

Dos, Santos, F; Steyn, JS; Andras, P

doi:10.1109/IJCNN.2016.7727813

Modelling the restoration of activity in a biological neural network

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Jannetta Steyn, Dr Peter Andras

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Abstract

© 2016 IEEE. Understanding the mechanisms of restoration of activity in biological neural systems following exposure to damage is key for design of future neuro-prosthetic devices and restorative treatments. The pyloric rhythm network within the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion is a biological neural system that shows spontaneous restoration of activity following the stopping of inputs from higher control ganglia. We model the restoration of the activity in this network using conductance-based models of neurons and the alteration of conductance parameters of the model. Our analysis shows that this approach works only if some of the conductance values remain constrained following the stopping of higher inputs. Our model also shows that in order to model the restoration of the activity in this network it is not necessary to rely on complicated alterations of the mechanisms of Calcium ionic currents in the model, which was proposed previously.