Interdependence of cellular and network properties in respiratory rhythmogenesis.

Breathing is a vital rhythmic process originating from the preBötzinger complex. Since its discovery in 1991, there has been a spirited debate about whether respiratory rhythm generation emerges as a network property or is driven by a subset of specialized neurons with rhythmic bursting capabilities, endowed by intrinsic currents. Here, using computational modeling, we propose a unifying data-driven model of respiratory rhythm generation which bridges the gap between these competing theories. In this model, both intrinsic cellular properties (a persistent sodium current) and network properties (recurrent excitation), but not intrinsic bursting, are essential and interdependent features of respiratory rhythm generation.