Applied Mathematical Sciences, Vol. 5, 2011, no.

54, 2685 - 2695

Bidirectional Chaotic Synchronization of

Hindmarsh-Rose Neuron Model

1,2
Mada Sanjaya WS, 1Mustafa Mamat, 1Zabidin Salleh, and 1Ismail Mohd
1
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti
Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu 21030, Malaysia.
2
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Islam
Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung, Indonesia.
madasws@gmail.com

Abstract

In this paper, the bursting chaotic synchronization of two neurons coupled with
gap junction in the condition of external electrical stimulation is investigated. In
this paper, the coupled model is established on the basis of Hindmarsh-Rose
neuron model, and then the relation of bidirectional coupling strength of the gap
junction and the synchronization is discussed in detail. The sufficient condition of
complete synchronization is obtained from rigorous mathematical derivation. The
synchronizations of periodic neurons and chaotic bursting neurons are studied,
respectively.

Keywords: chaotic synchronization, Hindmarsh-Rose model, gap junction.

1 Introduction
System of signals propagation from one neuron to another represent event of
very complex electrochemical mechanism. Many cells are linked to each other by
specialized intercellular pathways known as gap junctions. Gap junctions are
clusters of aqueous channels that connect the cytoplasm of adjoining cells. They
allow the direct transfer of ions and small molecules, including second messenger
molecules, between cells without leakage to the extracellular fluid. As the gap
junctions play an important role in the process of information transmitting among
the coupled neurons system [1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 13].
Neurons can demonstrate different types of activity such as continuous spiking,
bursting, etc. The Hindmarsh–Rose is one of the most popular low-dimensional
2686 Mada Sanjaya WS et al

neuron models exhibiting chaotic bursting dynamics [2, 7, 9]. Therefore, when
modelling the cooperative behavior of bursting neurons, this model is often used
as a unit. In agreement with this approach we assume it as a paradigm of both
amplitude and spike timing chaos.
Over last decade, many new types of synchronization have appeared. Since
the discovery of chaotic synchronization [11, 12], there has been tremendous
interest in studying the synchronization of chaotic systems. Recently,
synchronization of coupled chaotic systems has attracted considerable attention
Especially, a typical study of synchronization is the coupled chaotic identical
chaotic systems [5].
The synchronization may play an important role in revealing communication
pathways in neural system. The synchronization of neurons Fitzhugh-Nagumo
model electrical coupled with gap junction in external electrical stimulation is
investigated detail in [4, 8, 10]. In these papers, the synchronization bursting of
two neurons electrical birectional coupled Hindmarsh–Rose model with gap
junction in periodic external electrical stimulation are the main focus.
After introducing some ideas to be described in this paper, in Section 2, we
give some reviews about the nonlinear bursting model of individual neuron in
external stimulation. With the variation of the stimulation and the initial condition
of the neuron, the complex behaviors including chaos are revealed. In Section 3,
the model of two neurons electrically coupled with gap junction is given. The
chaotic synchronization of two coupled neurons and the influence of coupling
coefficient on chaotic synchronization are studied. The conclusion is given in
Section 5.

2 The Hindmarsh-Rose model single neuron

The original model introduced in [7] is given by

dx ⎫
= y + ax 2 − x 3 − z + 1⎪
dt
⎪
dy ⎪
= 1 − dx − y
2
⎬ (1)
dt ⎪
dz ⎪
= μ (b( x − x e ) − z ) ⎪
dt ⎭

where x represents the membrane potential, y and z describe the dynamics

associated with fast varying (e.g., sodium) and slow varying (e.g., calcium)
currents, respectively, I or I(t) is an external current supplied to the cell, a, d, b
and xe are parameters, μ is a small parameter, such that the adiabatic approach in
which the model is decomposed into a fast and a slow subsystem, may be applied.
Although different in structure, more physiologically conductance-based models
of spiking neurons often exhibit many of the same qualitative phenomena that we
Bidirectional chaotic synchronization 2687

observe for the Hindmarsh–Rose model.

For this system, we choose a = 3, b = 4, d = 5, μ = 0.005, xe = −(1 + 5 ) / 2 ,
and I is varied .
The simplest modification to Hindmarsh and Rose model for a single neuron,
can be done by introducing the stimulus [4, 8, 10] represented as

I (t ) = ( A / ω ) cos(ωt ) (2)

to (1) where A denotes the magnitude of the stimulus, and ω refers to the
frequency of given stimulus.
Furthermore, if we τ = t , then non-autonomous system (1) and (2) can be
written as an autonomous system

dx ⎫
= y + ax 2 − x 3 − z + ωA cos ωτ ⎪
dt
⎪
dy ⎪
= 1 − dx − y
2

dt ⎪
⎬ (3)
dz ⎪
= μ (b( x − xe ) − z )
dt ⎪
dτ ⎪
=1 ⎪
dt ⎭

The stimulus frequency is varied while keeping the magnitude at a fixed value
of A = 0.1, since at this particular value of A, modified Hindmarsh-Rose neuron
model gives periodic bursting. Simulation results at different stimulus frequencies
are shown in Fig. 1. It can be observed that with the variation in stimulus
frequency ω , the neuron shows complex chaotic behavior. Hence the stimulus
frequency ω can be considered as a significant parameter that affects the behavior
of neuron.

(a) phase space for ω = 0.09 Hz (b) phase space for ω = 0.075 Hz (c) phase space for
ω = 0.045 Hz
2688 Mada Sanjaya WS et al

(d) time series for ω = 0.09 Hz. (e) time series for ω = 0.075 Hz. (f) time series for
ω = 0.045 Hz

Figure 1 : Modified Bursting individual neuron model with A = 0.1

3 Chaotic synchronization of two neuron bidirectional coupled

Let us consider a network composed by n Hindmarsh-Rose neurons. Firstly, these
neurons are coupled by variable x. This network can be modeled by the system
[2, 9] as

dxi ⎫
= yi + axi2 − xi3 − zi + ωA cosωτ i − h( xi , x j )⎪
dt
⎪
dyi ⎪
= 1 − dxi − yi
2

dt ⎪
⎬ (4)
dzi ⎪
= μ (b( xi − xe ) − zi )
dt ⎪
dτ i ⎪
=1 ⎪
dt ⎭
( i ≠ j , i = 1,…,n, j =2,…,n) where the coupling function h is given by
n
h( xi , x j ) = ( xi − Vs ) g s ∑ cij Γ( x j ) (5)
j =1

in which Vs is the reversal potential, g s is synaptic coupling strength, and Γ

so-called synaptic is modeled by a sigmoid function with a threshold

1
Γ( x j ) = (6)
1 + exp(−λ ( x j − Θ s ))
with Θs is the threshold reached by every action potential for a neuron. Neurons
are supposed to be identical and the synapses are fast and instantaneous. The
synapse is exitatory, that is why the reversal potential Vs must be larger than xi(t)
for all i and all t [2, 9].
Bidirectional chaotic synchronization 2689

Complete synchronization occurs when the coupled chaotic oscillators

asymptotically exhibit identical behaviors, means that

xi (t ) − x j (t ) → 0, i ≠ j , i, j = 1,2,3..., n ( t → ∞ ),

for initial conditions from some neighborhood of the synchronization manifold

given by
x1 (t ) = x 2 (t ) = x3 (t ) = ... = x n (t ) = s (t ) (7)

In fact, for any coupling matrix C, the synchronization solution (7) is always
the solution of coupled system (4). However, the synchronization solution (4) is
unstable under some condition.
By introducing coordinates transformation to the synchronization manifold,
defined by
ξ i = xi +1 − xi (i = 1,..., n),
the linearized equation for transversal perturbations takes the form
δξ& j = [Df ( s (t )) − nC ]δξ j , j = 1, 2, 3,…, n (8)
where, Df denotes the Jacobian matrix of the individual oscillator system
evaluated in the synchronization manifold and along s(t) the solution of x = f(x,t).
In this way, the local stability properties of the synchronization manifold can be
derived by analyzing the stability of the fixed point δξ j = 0 of the linear
non-autonomous systems of ordinary differential equation (8).
If we apply the Lyapunov function criteria to (8) with the Lyapunov function
2
V = δξ j ,
then [2, 4, 8, 9] the inequality

δξ Tj ( Df T + Df − 2nC )δξ j p 0 (9)

can be obtained where δξ Tj and Df T denote the transposed vector of transverse

perturbations and the transposed Jacobian matrix, respectively.
The equation (9) is a sufficient condition for synchronization, provided that
its is fulfilled in all points of the attractor. It was known that (9) is satisfied for all
δξ j if and only if the real symmetric matrix Df T + Df − 2nC has negative
eigenvalues everywhere throughout the attractor. In the symmetric case, the
matrix 12 ( Df T + Df − 2nC ) coincides with the Jacobian matrix of the linearized
system (8). Hence, in this case, the negativeness of the eigenvalues of the
Jacobian matrix implies the stability of δξ j = 0 .
Let us consider, for n = 2, three neurons in the same external simulation
bidirectional coupled with gap junction (5). The model is described as
2690 Mada Sanjaya WS et al

dx1 1 ⎫
= y1 + ax1 − x1 − z1 + ωA cosωτ1 − ( x1 − Vs ) g s (
2 3
) ⎪
dt 1 + exp(−λ ( x2 − Θ s ))
⎪
dy1 2 ⎪
= 1 − dx1 − y
dt ⎪
dz1 ⎪
= μ (b( x1 − xe ) − z1 ) ⎪
dt ⎪
dτ 1 ⎪ (10)
=1
dt ⎪
dx2 1 ⎬
= y 2 + ax22 − x23 − z 2 + ωA cosωτ 2 − ( x2 − Vs ) g s ( ) ⎪
dt 1 + exp(−λ ( x1 − Θ s )) ⎪
dy2 ⎪
= 1 − dx22 − y 2 ⎪
dt ⎪
dz2 ⎪
= μ (b( x2 − xe ) − z 2 )
dt ⎪
dτ 2 ⎪
=1 ⎪
dt ⎭
Then the Jacobian matrix of the individual oscillator system without coupling (3)
is given by

⎛ 2ax − 3x 2 1 −1 A cos ωτ ⎞
⎜ ⎟
⎜ − 2dx −1 0 0 ⎟
Df = ⎜ ⎟ (11)
⎜ μb 0 −μ 0 ⎟
⎜ 0 0 0 0 ⎟
⎝ ⎠

According to (8), we have

⎛g 0 0 0⎞
⎜ ⎟
⎜0 0 0 0⎟
C =⎜ (12)
0 0 0 0⎟
⎜ ⎟
⎜0 0 0 0 ⎟⎠
⎝

Therefore, we have the following symmetric matrix.

⎛ 1 − 2 dx μb − 1 A cos ωτ ⎞
⎜ 2 ax − 3 x − 4 g
2
⎟
⎜ 2 2 2 ⎟
⎜ 1 − 2 dx ⎟
Df T
+ Df − 2 × 4 × C ⎜ −1 0 0
=⎜ 2 ⎟ (13)
2 μb − 1 ⎟
⎜ 0 −μ 0 ⎟
⎜ 2 ⎟
⎜⎜ A cos ωτ ⎟⎟
0 0 0
⎝ 2 ⎠

The negativeness of the eigenvalues of the matrix (3.10), implies the stability of
the chaotic synchronization [2, 4, 8, 9].
Bidirectional chaotic synchronization 2691

(a) xj yj zj , j = 1,2,3 phase plane diagram

(b) the error e1 = x 1 – x2 phase plane diagram (c) the error e2 = y 1 – y2 phase plane diagram

(d) xj– xi phase plane diagram (e) yj– yi phase plane diagram

Figure 2 : ω = 0.09 Hz, g = 0.005 < 0.9 in different initial condition.

4 Discussion

With the parameters given in Section 2 that the neuron is chaotic : A = 0.1,
ω = 0.045 Hz, a = 3, b = 4, d = 5, μ = 0.005. Get that if g > 0.45, then the chaotic
synchronization occurs.
However, we must notice that if the individual neuron without coupling bursts
periodically, then with any coupling strength of the gap junction even if
g = 0.005 < 0.9, the two coupled neurons are synchronous, as shown in Figure 2.
On the other hand, the coupled chaotic neurons are synchronous when the gap
2692 Mada Sanjaya WS et al

junction coupling strength g satisfies the sufficient condition for synchronization.

These cases are shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 respectively.
As shown in Figure 2, when ω = 0.09 Hz the individual neuron without
coupling bursts periodically, then even the coupling strength of the gap junction
g = 0.005 < 0.9, the synchronization can occur also. The errors e1 = x1 − x 2 → 0 ,
e2 = x1 − x3 → 0 and e3 = x 2 − x3 → 0 imply the complete synchronization.

(a) xj yj zj , j = 1,2,3 phase plane diagram

(b) the error e1 = x 1 – x2 phase plane diagram (c) the error e2 = y 1 – y2 phase plane diagram

(d) xj– xi phase plane diagram (e) yj– yi phase plane diagram

Figure 3 : ω = 0.045 Hz, g = 0.005 < 0.9 in different initial condition.

Bidirectional chaotic synchronization 2693

(a) xj yj zj , j = 1,2,3 phase plane diagram

(b) the error e1 = x 1 – x2 phase plane diagram (c) the error e2 = y 1 – y2 phase plane diagram

(d) xj– xi phase plane diagram (e) yj– yi phase plane diagram

Figure 4 : ω = 0.045 Hz, g = 1.25 > 0.9 in different initial condition.

As shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, when the frequency of the external

stimulation ω = 0.045 Hz, the individual neuron without coupling is chaotic.
For different initial condition, if the coupling strength of the gap junction
g = 0.005 < 0.9, the synchronization cannot occur; the synchronization occurs
when g = 1.25 > 0.9 with errors e1 = x1 − x 2 → 0 , e2 = x1 − x3 → 0 and
e3 = x 2 − x3 → 0 imply the complete synchronization for this gap junction.
2694 Mada Sanjaya WS et al

4 Conclusion
In this paper, the synchronization of two neurons bidirectional coupled with gap
junction in periodic external electrical stimulation with Hindmarsh–Rose chaotic
bursting model is studied. The sufficient condition for complete synchronization
is investigated. When the individual neuron without coupling bursts periodically,
the synchronization can occur finally for any strength of gap junction. Also we
attain that if the strength of gap junction satisfies some condition the
synchronization can occur when the individual neuron is chaotic. However, it
should be noted that the strength of gap junction satisfies some condition is only
the sufficient condition. This means that when the synchronization occurs, the
strength of gap junction will not satisfy the condition all the time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial

support from Ministry of Higher Education under the FRGS Vot59146.

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Received: March, 2011