The role of coupling factors on the emergence of synchronization and chimera patterns in network of non-locally coupled pancreatic β-cells

The study of the pancreatic β-cells and their collective behavior is of great importance from the fluctuating insulin perspective. In this paper, a network of non-locally coupled β-cells is considered. It has been frequently reported that bursting of β-cells and their synchronous oscillations are associated with gap junctions. Therefore, a linear coupling between the membrane potentials of the clustered cells is used to model the gap junctions. The effects of coupling strength and number of neighbouring connections on the behavior of the cells is also investigated. Various collective patterns including chimera state, cluster synchronization and complete synchronization are observed. It is attained that the dynamic of the cells, e.g., being chaotic or periodic, has a significant role in their behavior. The observed collective behaviors not only is related to the network's parameters, but also heavily depends on its underlying topology. Detailed analytical description and extensive numerical simulations are provided to support the claims.