Short-term plasticity as a mechanism to regulate and retain multistability

Abstract

Short-term synaptic plasticity of recurrent synapses has previously been shown to control and tune the balance of excitation and inhibition. Still, the precise mechanisms whereby short-term plasticity contributes to the coexistence and stabilization of neural firing are subtle and remain elusive. Here, we present a Wang–Buzsáki neural network to investigate the combined effect of short-term plasticity and recurrent inhibition on generating various firing patterns and dynamical retention. The resulting statistical analysis of both voltage trajectories and spike trains reveals two functional roles of short-term plasticity to neuronal dynamics. First, we find that recurrent inhibitory connections can be a possible mechanism to regulate neural firing at the given excitatory level. Secondly, we further find that neural networks of the excitatory population possess the ability to retain and stabilize various neural firing patterns with a broader range of excitation. Our findings pave the way to understanding the role of short-term plasticity in producing and maintaining multiple firing patterns.