Reciprocal inhibitory coupling: Measure and control of chaos on a biophysically motivated model of bursting

Bursting activity is an interesting feature of the temporal organization in many cell firing patterns. This complex behavior is characterized by clusters of spikes (action potentials) interspersed with phases of quiescence. As shown in experimental recordings, concerning the electrical activity of real neurons, the analysis of bursting models reveals not only patterned periodic activity but also irregular behavior 1,2]. The interpretation of experimental results, particularly the study of the influence of coupling on chaotic bursting oscillations, is of great interest from physiological and physical perspectives. The inability to predict the behavior of dynamical systems in presence of chaos suggests the application of chaos control methods, when we are more interested in obtaining regular behavior. In the present article, we focus our attention on a specific class of biophysically motivated maps, proposed in the literature to describe the chaotic activity of spiking–bursting cells [Cazelles B, Courbage M, Rabinovich M. Anti-phase regularization of coupled chaotic maps modelling bursting neurons. Europhys Lett 2001;56:504–9]. More precisely, we study a map that reproduces the behavior of a single cell and a map used to examine the role of reciprocal inhibitory coupling, specially on two symmetrically coupled bursting neurons. Firstly, using results of symbolic dynamics, we characterize the topological entropy associated to the maps, which allows us to quantify and to distinguish different chaotic regimes. In particular, we exhibit numerical results about the effect of the coupling strength on the variation of the topological entropy. Finally, we show that complicated behavior arising from the chaotic coupled maps can be controlled, without changing of its original properties, and turned into a desired attracting time periodic motion (a regular cycle). The control is illustrated by an application of a feedback control technique developed by Romeiras et al. [Romeiras FJ, Grebogi C, Ott E, Dayawansa WP. Controlling chaotic dynamical systems. Physica D 1992;58:165–92]. This work provides an illustration of how our understanding of chaotic bursting models can be enhanced by the theory of dynamical systems.