A Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillator model of locked and non-locked behaviors of living pacemaker neurons.

A recent investigation of the influence of periodic inhibitory trains on a crayfish pacemaker neuron showed not only well-known locked periodic responses but also intermittent, messy, and hopping responses. This communication studies the responses of the Bonhoeffer-van der Pol (BVP) model with self-sustained oscillation when exposed to periodic pulse trains inputs. The analysis is similar to that used in crayfish and reveals interesting features, both comparable and complementary to those seen in the living preparation.