Inhibitory neurons can facilitate rhythmic activity in a neural network.

Synchrony emerges in a population of oscillators interacting through in-phase couplings. We addressed a question of whether inhibitory neurons simply hinder the emergence of the synchronous activity among excitatory neurons, or facilitate it. An analysis of a simple phase model revealed that both cases may take place. Numerical simulations of the more realistic models revealed that inhibitory neurons rather facilitate rhythmic activity.