Roles of gap junctions in organizing traveling waves in a hippocampal CA3 network model

Abstract

Directional traveling waves are organized in a hippocampal CA3 recurrent network model composed of biophysical pyramidal cells and inhibitory interneurons with gap junctions. The network spontaneously organizes neuronal activities traveling in a particular direction and the organized traveling waves are modified by repetitive local inputs. We found that the distributions of inter-spike intervals (ISIs) of pyramidal cells and interneurons are involved with spontaneous traveling waves that can be modified by local stimulation. Similar ISI distributions emerge in a network that has no gap junctions, but strong mutual connections between pyramidal cells and interneurons. These results suggest that interaction between interneurons through gap junctions contributes to enhancing the inhibition of pyramidal cells for organizing traveling waves.