The role of coupling strength and internal delay between compartments in shaping the bursting behavior of cortical neuron

Bursting is a typical firing behavior intrinsically existing in neurons from many brain regions, which has been thought to have functional roles in neuronal reliable signaling and synaptic plasticity. Meanwhile, many factors have been put forward to participate in the modulation of bursting behavior during the past decades. Here, in this research, the modulation of bursting behaviors was numerically investigated in a two-compartment model of cortical pyramidal neuron using the coupling strength and time delay between compartments as control parameters. By means of computer simulations, we showed that, for larger coupling strengths and smaller delays between the two compartments, a wide range of regular bursting can be observed, while too large coupling strengths and time delays would cause the model neuron to be quiescent. In addition, the dynamical firing range of regular spiking can be also obtained, which has two parts: one part corresponds to small coupling strengths irrespective of the values of time delay, while another part corresponds to larger coupling strengths and delays. These results suggested that coupling strength and internal time delay between the inner compartments possess potential roles in modulating the dynamical bursting behavior of neurons.