The stability of behavioral synchronization in a network of bursting neurons: a new explanation for epileptogenesis

In this paper, we explored a new category of synchronization, namely the "behavioral synchronization". Instead of describing the signal, this category refers to the behavior. Two systems can be, each of them, in function mode A or B. If both of them are simultaneously in the same mode A or B, they are in synchronized behavior state. However, the outputs of the systems can be uncorrelated. The model proposed for investigation is a network of neurons that generate bursting (firing) behavior. The individual neuron displays characteristic firing patterns determined by the number and kind of ion channels in its membrane. One of the neuroscience problems is to explain how the system\´s dynamics depend on the properties of individual neurons, the synaptic architecture by which they are connected, and the strength and time course of the synaptic connections. In our model proposed for investigation, the output signals are chaotic and uncorrelated, although the systems are behaviorally synchronized. We proposed a new explanation for the appearance of the epileptic seizures that uses the concept of behavioral synchronization and is included in the family of hypothesis that state that the epilepsy is a network disorder. We proved mathematically and by simulations that, for a large range of values for the control parameters, the network is unstable and has chaotic behavior