Effects of hybrid synapses on the vibrational resonance in small-world neuronal networks

Abstract

We investigate the effect of vibrational resonance in small-world neuronal networks with hybrid chemical and electrical synapses. It is shown that, irrespective of the probability of chemical synapses, an optimal amplitude of high-frequency component of the signal can optimize the dynamical response of neuron populations to the low-frequency component, which encodes the information. This effect of vibrational resonance of neuronal systems depends extensively on the network structure and parameters, which determine the ability of neuronal networks to enhance the outreach of localized subthreshold low-frequency signal. In particular, chemical synaptic coupling is more efficient than the electrical coupling for the transmission of local input signal due to its selective coupling. Moreover, there exists an optimal small-world topology characterized by an optimal value of rewiring probability, warranting the largest peak value of the system response. Considering that two-frequency signals are ubiquity in brain dynamics, we expect the presented results could have important implications for signal processing in neuronal systems.