In mammalian respiration, synchronized bursting activity of a select network of brainstem neurons drives the movement of the diaphragm that underlies inspiration. Experimental observations suggest that “pre-inspiratory” tonic spiking locally within this network may or may not ignite a widespread, synchronized activation, and when they do occur, these activations may manifest as small-scale burstlets or full-blown bursts. I will discuss two models related to this process, with an emphasis on a multi-state bootstrap percolation model that may provide insights about the connection architecture in this network, which is currently unknown.
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