Novel Kuramoto model with inhibition dynamics modeling scale-free avalanches and synchronization in neuronal cultures

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new Kuramoto model with inhibition dynamics that accurately reproduces the scale-free avalanches and synchronization observed in neuronal cultures, providing insights into their complex activity patterns.

Contribution

A novel Kuramoto model incorporating inhibition dynamics that models scale-free avalanches and synchronization in neuronal cultures, aligning with experimental data.

Findings

Model reproduces experimental avalanche statistics

Identifies correlation patterns in activity organization

Demonstrates amplification-attenuation regimes similar to human brain

Abstract

Neuronal cultures exhibit a complex activity, bursts, or avalanches, characterized by the coexistence of scale invariance and synchronization, quite stable with the percentage of inhibitory neurons. While this bistable behavior has been already observed in the past, the characterization of the statistical properties of avalanche activity and their temporal organization is still lacking, as well as a model able to reproduce these dynamics. Here, we analyze experimental data of human neuronal cultures with controlled percentage of inhibitory neurons and characterize their statistical properties and dynamical organization. In order to model the experimental data, we propose a novel version of the Kuramoto model for two populations of oscillators, excitatory and inhibitory, implementing successfully the inhibition dynamics. The model can fully reproduce the experimental results, confirming the existence of correlations in the temporal organization of avalanche activity and the presence of an amplification - attenuation regime, as found in the human brain.