Brain dynamics: coupling intrinsic and synaptic processes

A parametric model of a two-cell interneuronal network has been developed to understand the genesis and control of slow bursting oscillations observed in rat brain slices. The model suggests that a mechanism underlying this behaviour involves persistent sodium and slowly inactivating potassium currents coupled with inhibitory synapses and gap junctions between the neurons. Larger networks as well as more realistic neuronal models are being developed within the context of this mechanism.