Cell assembly dynamics of sparsely-connected inhibitory networks: a simple model for the collective activity of striatal projection neurons

The striatum is a brain structure involved in many functional roles, from action selection to learning and motor control. Some noticeable experiments demonstrated that the striatum encodes information received from sensory areas by the alternating activation of small assemblies of Medium Spiny Neurons firing synchronously. We propose a simple mathematical model of inhibitory neurons which is able to capture some of the most relevant features of the striatal dynamics. The simplicity of the model allows to identify the minimal ingredients required by a neural network to display the rich behavior observed in the striatum. The derivation of an easily tractable model can allow a deeper understanding of the fundamental mechanisms at the basis of the striatal dynamics and eventually to elucidate in a near future how neural diseases, like Parkinson and Huntigthon disease, alter the normal behaviour of Medium Spiny Neurons.