Effects of Synaptic Time Constant on Firing Activities of a minimal Central Pattern Generator

Central pattern generators (CPGs) underlie rhythmic movements. Researching the firing mechanisms of CPGs is helpful understanding the interface between global brain function and molecular neuroscience. This paper investigates effects of varying inhibitory synaptic time constant on firing activities of a minimal CPG. Burst cycle periods, burst phase and regularization degree are adopted for analyses. Results manifest that both pre- and postsynaptic processes influence synaptic time constants. If the initial states of two neurons making up the minimal CPG are irregular bursting, the minimal CPG display undisciplined firing activities with the variation of synaptic time constants. If the initial states of two neurons are regular bursting, the minimal CPG display synchronized regular bursting with a wide frequency range, and the synchronized rhythms increase with the increase of synaptic time constants. This paper demonstrates that synaptic time constants are potential parameters for adjusting of rhythmic activities in CPG.