Effects of Autapse and Channel Blockage on Firing Regularity in a Biological Neuronal Network

Abstract

In this paper; the effects of autapse (a kind of self-synapse formed between the axon of the soma of a neuronand its own dendrites) and ion channel blockage on the firing regularity of a biological small-world neuronal network,consists of stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley neurons, are studied. In this study, it is assumed that all of the neurons on thenetwork have a chemical autapse and a constant membrane area. Obtained results indicate that there are different effectsof channel blockage and parameters of the autapse on the regularity of the network, thus on the temporal coherence ofthe network. It is found that the firing regularity of the network is decreased with the sodium channel blockage whileincreased with potassium channel blockage. Besides, it is determined that regularity of the network augments with theconductance of the autapse.