A stochastic mechanism for signal propagation in the brain: Force of rapid random fluctuations in membrane potentials of individual neurons

Abstract

There are two functionally important factors in signal propagation in a brain structural network: the very first synaptic delay–a time delay about 1ms–from the moment when signals originate to the moment when observation on the signal propagation can begin; and rapid random fluctuations in membrane potentials of every individual neuron in the network at a timescale of microseconds. We provide a stochastic analysis of signal propagation in a general setting. The analysis shows that the two factors together result in a stochastic mechanism for the signal propagation as described below. A brain structural network is not a rigid circuit rather a very flexible framework that guides signals to propagate but does not guarantee success of the signal propagation. In such a framework, with the very first synaptic delay, rapid random fluctuations in every individual neuron in the network cause an “alter-and-concentrate effect” that almost surely forces signals to successfully propagate. By the stochastic mechanism we provide analytic evidence for the existence of a force behind signal propagation in a brain structural network caused by rapid random fluctuations in every individual neuron in the network at a timescale of microseconds with a time delay of 1ms.