A simple and complete model of thalamocortical interactions for neuroengineering applications

The thalamus tends to be presented as a sensory gateway, a relay where little computation takes place. This view, combined with the difficulty of accessing this area related to cortex or peripheral nervous system, resulted in a relative paucity of thalamic computational models being detailed, complete and efficient enough to subserve neuroengineering applications. Here we present a novel model of thalamocortical interaction where both areas are simulated with adaptive integrate and fire spiking neurons. The model is able to reproduce information transfer from thalamus to cortex in both awake and asleep state, as shown by the local field potentials matching those observed experimentally in the two dynamics regimes. The applications in neuroengineering of such a simple and complete model range from simulations of sensory feedback injected directly in the thalamus for tetraplegic patients, to simulations of the effects on cortical activity of DBS stimulation delivered in the basal ganglia or directly in thalamus.