Enhanced vibrational resonance in a single neuron with chemical autapse for signal detection*

Abstract

Many animals can detect the multi-frequency signals from their external surroundings. The understanding for underlying mechanism of signal detection can apply the theory of vibrational resonance, in which the moderate high frequency driving can maximize the nonlinear system’s response to the low frequency subthreshold signal. In this work, we study the roles of chemical autapse on the vibrational resonance in a single neuron for signal detection. We reveal that the vibrational resonance is strengthened significantly by the inhibitory autapse in the neuron, while it is weakened typically by the excitatory autapse. It is generally believed that the inhibitory synapse has a suppressive effect in neuronal dynamics. However, we find that the detection of the neuron to the low frequency subthreshold signal can be improved greatly by the inhibitory autapse. Our finding indicates that the inhibitory synapse may act constructively on the detection of weak signal in the brain and neuronal system.

Effect of autaptic delay signal on spike-timing precision of single neuron

“…[23,24] It is more interesting that a quite precise firing in neocortical fast-spiking interneurons is due to the autaptic connection, [25,[27][28][29] which is the special synapse that connects the neuron to itself and constitutes the smallest network in the nervous system. [30,31] The experimental results also reveal that autapse promotes the accuracy of neuronal firing and regulates the activities of the nervous system. [29,[32][33][34][35][36] Nevertheless, the function of autapses and their contribution to the accuracy of neuronal firing are still unclear.…”

“…[30,31] The experimental results also reveal that autapse promotes the accuracy of neuronal firing and regulates the activities of the nervous system. [29,[32][33][34][35][36] Nevertheless, the function of autapses and their contribution to the accuracy of neuronal firing are still unclear. Thus, understanding the effect of autaptic activities on accurate neuronal responses is still critical work.…”

Vibrational resonance in globally coupled bistable systems under the noise background

“…[3][4][5] Both the VR and the SR have important applications in detection of weak signals. [6][7][8][9] The core idea of VR is to replace the role of noise in SR with a high-frequency signal. For the reason why high-frequency signals are more convenient to control than noises and there is widespread existence of dualfrequency signals in nature, research of VR has expanded from bistable systems to monostable, [10] multistable, [11][12][13][14] asymmetric, [15][16][17] and other nonlinear systems.…”

Paradoxical roles of inhibitory autapse and excitatory synapse in formation of counterintuitive anticipated synchronization

“…Recently, the paradoxical role of the autapse (a special synapse connecting to the neuron itself widely observed in multiple types of neuron) has attracted much attention, [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58] in addition to its common role in modulating electrical behaviors of single neurons and neuronal networks have been studied. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] For example, inhibitory autapse has been observed in inhibitory interneurons. In addition to the common role to inhibit the firing activity, which is observed in the hippocampus and neocortex, [54] inhibitory autapse is identified to play counterintuitive role to enhance firing.…”