An information theoretical analysis of multi-terminal neuro-spike communication network in spinal cord

Abstract

Communication theoretical understanding of healthy and diseased connections in the spinal cord motor system is crucial for realizing future information and communication technology (ICT) based diagnosis and treatment techniques for spinal cord injuries (SCI). A spinal cord motor nucleus associated with a particular muscle constitutes an ideal candidate for studying to have an understanding of SCI. Typical spinal cord motor nucleus system contains pool of lower motor neurons (MNs) controlling a muscle by integrating synaptic inputs from spinal interneurons (INs), upper motor neurons (DNs) and sensory neurons (SNs). In this study, we consider this system from ICT perspective. Our aim is to quantify the rate of information flow across a spinal cord motor nucleus. To this end, we model an equivalent single-hop multiterminal network, where multiple transmitting nodes representing heterogeneous population of DNs, INs and SNs send information to multiple receiving nodes corresponding to MNs. To identify the outputs at receiving nodes, we define corresponding neurospike communication channel and then find the bound on total rates across this network. Based on the network model, we analyze achievable rates for a particular motor nucleus system called Tibialis Anterior (TA) motor nucleus in the spinal cord numerically and simulate several spinal cord dysfunction scenarios. The numerical results reveal that decrease in the maximum total rates with the lower motor neuron injury causes weakness in the affected muscle.