Topic: tonic firing

Nowadays, 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain. Current neuropharmacology and neurostimulation treatments are associated with suboptimal efficacy, due to a lack of understanding of the pain system. A major contributor to many persistent clinical pain states is the phenomenon of central sensitization---a state of hyperexcitability of the pain system resulting from changes in the properties of neurons and circuits within the dorsal horns of the spinal cord. Although spinal cord circuits and their plasticity are challenging to study experimentally, only a handful of computational studies

The in vivo responses of dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) serotonin neurons to emotionally-salient stimuli are a puzzle. Existing theories centred on reward, surprise, salience, and uncertainty individually account for some aspects of serotonergic activity but not others. Combining ideas from reinforcement learning (RL) theory with recent insights into the signal processing features of the DRN, here we find a unifying perspective in a prospective code for value. Such a code is both biologically realistic---it arises from strong spike-frequency adaptation in serotonin neurons coupled with slow decodi

Numerous vital biological functions, including breathing, digestion, and walking, rely on the orchestration of robust and adaptable rhythmic patterns. Bursting inhibitory neural circuits have traditionally been acknowledged as the cornerstone responsible for initiating and regulating these patterns. Various rhythmic patterns have been associated with distinct network architectures, known as connectomes. However, these networks often suffer from vulnerability to disruption, limited flexibility, and difficulties in external manipulation due to their static nature. These limitations become partic