Session S25 - New Methods and Emerging Applications in Dynamics, Networks, and Control

Tuesday, July 13, 17:10 ~ 17:40 UTC-3

Complex Dynamics of the Interactions Between Nucleus in the Basal Ganglia

Julián Hurtado

Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Colombia   -   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The oscillatory nature of basal ganglia activity is highly linked with some movement disorders. This talk shows a study of oscillations in a reduced neural circuit model of the subthalamic nucleus (STN)-external globus pallidus (GPe) loop. The role of their interactions has been mainly discussed but mostly in the context of a dysfunction, as in Parkinson's disease, and not of its function.

Understanding the interaction between the basal ganglia with other brain areas is essential for finding new treatments for disorders affecting the neural systems supporting motor and cognitive behaviors. Reaching a comprehensive computational model of BG will allow a strengthening of the theoretical neurobiology. There will be important contributions to different fields as computer science and applied mathematics, robotics, and machine learning, as well.

The studied model is a mean firing rate mathematical model of a coupled pair of STN and GPe populations based on the GEN model (Chakravarthy, 2018). The goal of this study is to investigate how changes in network structure can lead to different dynamical modes such as steady state, oscillatory, and bistable behavior. Specifically, we perform a bifurcation analysis of a network of two single artificial neurons to investigate different dynamical modes with respect to changes in inputs and interconnection strengths.

Joint work with David Fernando Ramírez Moreno (Universidad Autónoma de Occidente).

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