Synchrony and frequency regulation by synaptic delay in networks of self-inhibiting neurons

We show that a pair of mutually coupled self-inhibitory neurons can display stable synchronous oscillations provided only that the delay to the onset of inhibition is sufficiently long. The frequency of these oscillations is determined either entirely by the length of the synaptic delay, or by the synaptic delay and intrinsic time constants. We also show how cells can exhibit transient synchronous oscillations where the length of the transients is determined by the synaptic delay, but where the frequency is largely independent of the delay.