Experimental active spike responses of analog electrical neuron: beyond “integrate-and-fire” transmission

Abstract

Using an analog electrical FitzHugh–Nagumo neuron including complex threshold excitation (CTE) properties, we analyze its spiking responses on pulse stimulation. The system is subjected to external pulse stimulus and can generate nonlinear integrate-and-fire and resonant responses which are typical for excitable neuronal cells. Following earlier theoretical predictions, we found that for certain parameters range, there is a possibility to trigger a spiking sequence with a finite number of spikes in response to a single short stimulus pulse. Hence, active transformation of N incoming pulses to M outgoing spikes is possible. We also show that the nonlinear electrical circuit with the CTE feature can be effectively synchronized by a periodic pulse train with 1 to M spike frequency ratio.