Spike width and frequency alter stability of phase-locking in electrically coupled neurons
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Updated: May 12, 2026

Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond
Published on: June 24, 2015
Ramana Dodla1, Charles J Wilson
1Department of Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA. ramana.dodla@utsa.edu
Abstract:
The stability of phase-locked states of electrically coupled type-1 phase response curve neurons is studied using piecewise linear formulations for their voltage profile and phase response curves. We find that at low frequency and/or small spike width, synchrony is stable, and antisynchrony unstable. At high frequency and/or large spike width, these phase-locked states switch their stability. Increasing the ratio of spike width to spike height causes the antisynchronous state to transition into a stable synchronous state. We compute the interaction function and the boundaries of stability of both these phase-locked states, and present analytical expressions for them. We also study the effect of phase response curve skewness on the boundaries of synchrony and antisynchrony.
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