Entrainment, instability, quasi-periodicity, and chaos in a compound neural oscillator

We studied the dynamical behavior of a class of compound central pattern generator (CPG) models consisting of a simple neural network oscillator driven by both constant and periodic inputs of varying amplitudes, frequencies, and phases. We focused on a specific oscillator composed of two mutually inhibiting types of neuron (inspiratory and expiratory neurons) that may be considered as a minimal model of the mammalian respiratory rhythm generator. The simulation results demonstrated how a simple CPG model--with a minimum number of neurons and mild nonlinearities--may reproduce a host of complex dynamical behaviors under various periodic inputs. In particular, the network oscillated spontaneously only when both neurons received adequate and proportionate constant excitations. In the presence of a periodic source, the spontaneous rhythm was overridden by an entrained oscillation of varying forms depending on the nature of the source. Stable entrained oscillations were inducible by two types of inputs: (1) anti-phase periodic inputs with alternating agonist-antagonist drives to both neurons and (2) a single periodic drive to only one of the neurons. In-phase inputs, which exert periodic drives of similar magnitude and phase relationships to both neurons, resulted in varying disruptions of the entrained oscillations including magnitude attenuation, harmonic and phase distortions, and quasi-periodic interference. In the absence of significant phasic feedback, chaotic motion developed only when the CPG was driven by multiple periodic inputs. Apneic episodes with repetitive alternation of active (intrinsic oscillation) and inactive (cessation of oscillation) states developed when the network was driven by a moderate periodic input of low frequency. Similar results were demonstrated in other, more complex oscillator models (that is, half-center oscillator and three-phase respiratory network model). These theoretical results may have important implications in elucidating the mechanisms of rhythmogenesis in the mature and developing respiratory CPG as well as other compound CPGs in mammalian and invertebrate nervous systems.