Understanding of physiological neural firing patterns through dynamical bifurcation machineries

Abstract

The characteristics of baroreceptor firing patterns were recognized in experiment, and their dynamics revealed in theoretical analysis. During blood pressure elevation, baroreceptors gradually exhibited bursting, continuous firing, and paradoxical bursting patterns. The bursting was generated through the repeated bifurcations between rest and spiking, the continuous firing was maintained without bifurcation, and the paradoxical bursting was generated through the bifurcations between spiking and a depolarization block. Thus, the change of blood pressure spans two bifurcations and such results imply a new way for baroreceptors to encode blood pressure information. Various firing patterns were generated from the evolution of the baroreceptor system on different parts of the system's bifurcation scenario with respect to parameter I, the excitative current modulated by blood pressure.