The effect of multiscale parameters on the spiking properties of the morphological neuron with excitatory autapse

Abstract

The excitatory autapse has been discovered recently by researchers in the pyramidal neurons, which could regulate the neuronal firing, while the spiking properties of the neuron with excitatory autapse (NWEA) have not been adequately studied. To further shorten such a gap, in this paper, a mathematical model is constructed for the NWEA to examine its spiking characteristics from two large scales: the external factors (which include the magnitude and location of the electrode current and the ambient temperature) and the internal factors (which consist of the location and maximum conductance of the excitatory autapse). The interspike interval (ISI), the spiking count (SC) and the spiking rhythm (SR) are used to analyse the spike trains. It is shown that the numerical results are coincident with the biological experiments, i.e. the excitatory autapse wholly enhances the bursting phenomenon and increases the neuronal responsiveness. In addition, as the maximum conductance of the excitatory autapse increases, the SC is gradually reduced but the SR is more active. With the variation of the current locations, the spike trains of the NWEA are more sensitive than those of the neuron without excitatory autapse. Furthermore, the ISI, SC and SR are all sensitive to the five types of parameters in various degrees. The results obtained in this paper may provide some instructions in regulating the firing of NWEA from the above five factors, and the proposed model for the NWEA provides a basis to perform more complex studies for the neurons with autapse.