Generation of slow phase-locked oscillation and variability of the interspike intervals in globally coupled neuronal oscillators.

To elucidate how a biological rhythm is regulated, the extended (three-dimensional) Bonhoeffer-van der Pol or FitzHugh-Nagumo equations are employed to investigate the dynamics of a population of neuronal oscillators globally coupled through a common buffer (mean field). Interesting phenomena, such as extraordinarily slow phase-locked oscillations (compared to the natural period of each neuronal oscillator) and the death of all oscillations, are observed. We demonstrate that the slow synchronization is due mainly to the existence of "fast" oscillators. Additionally, we examine the effect of noise on the synchronization and variability of the interspike intervals. Peculiar phenomena, such as noise-induced acceleration and deceleration, are observed. The results herein suggest that very small noise may significantly influence a biological rhythm.