Enhancement of coherence resonance induced by inhibitory autapse in Hodgkin–Huxley model

Abstract

Inhibitory effect often suppresses electronic activities of the nervous system. In this paper, the inhibitory autapse is identified to enhance the degree of coherence resonance (CR) induced by noise in the Hodgkin–Huxley (HH) model with Hopf bifurcation from resting state to spiking with nearly fixed period [Formula: see text]. Without noise, the inhibitory autapse can induce a post inhibitory rebound (PIR) spike from the resting state at time delay approximating [Formula: see text] and can inhibit a spike of spiking at time delay approximating [Formula: see text]. In the presence of noise, CR characterized by maximal value of power spectrum of spike trains appears in a wide range of both time delay and conductance of autapse. With increasing autaptic conductance, CR degree becomes stronger for time delay approximating [Formula: see text] plus integer (from 0) multiples of [Formula: see text], because the inhibitory autaptic current pulses can induce more PIR spikes. The decrease of CR degree at time delay approximating integer (from 1) multiples of [Formula: see text] can be explained by the inhibition effect. The promotion of coherence resonance degree and the underlying PIR mechanism induced by inhibitory self-feedback extends the paradoxical phenomenon of inhibitory autapse to stochastic system and presents potential measures to modulate CR degree and information processing.