Self-organized two-state membrane potential transitions in a network of realistically modeled cortical neurons

Recent studies have revealed that in vivo cortical neurons show spontaneous transitions between two subthreshold levels of the membrane potentials, 'up' and 'down' states. The neural mechanism of generating those spontaneous states transitions, however, remains unclear. Recent electrophysiological studies have suggested that those state transitions may occur through activation of a hyperpolarization-activated cation current (H-current), possibly by inhibitory synaptic inputs. Here, we demonstrate that two-state membrane potential fluctuations similar to those exhibited by in vivo neurons can be generated through a spike-timing-dependent self-organizing process in a network of inhibitory neurons and excitatory neurons expressing the H-current.