Spike-timing dependent plasticity facilitates excitatory/inhibitory disbalances in early phases of tinnitus manifestation

The majority of tinnitus cases are related to cochlear dysfunction, leading to altered peripheral input to the central auditory system. These alterations are believed to diminish the difference in activation during on- and off-conditions of sound. As a compensatory means the affected region of primary auditory cortex tries to maximize the difference between basic level activity and sound-induced activity by changing the excitatory /inhibitory balance. In a previous model comprising ~3000 multi-compartment Hodgkin-Huxley-type neurons, we have shown that solely an increase of excitatory influences may be sufficient to achieve these maximization. This previous Hodgkin-Huxley-type model did not take into account synaptic plasticity, however