The initiation and regeneration of pulsatile activity is a ubiquitous feature observed in excitable systems
with delayed feedback. Here, we demonstrate this phenomenon in a real biological cell. We establish a
critical role of the delay resulting from the finite propagation speed of electrical impulses on the emergence of
persistent ...
The initiation and regeneration of pulsatile activity is a ubiquitous feature observed in excitable systems
with delayed feedback. Here, we demonstrate this phenomenon in a real biological cell. We establish a
critical role of the delay resulting from the finite propagation speed of electrical impulses on the emergence of
persistent multiple-spike patterns. We predict the co-existence of a number of such patterns in a mathematical
model and use a biological cell subject to dynamic clamp to confirm our predictions in a living mammalian
system. Given the general nature of our mathematical model and experimental system, we believe that our
results capture key hallmarks of physiological excitability that are fundamental to information processing.