Abstract
We study the rhythmic patterns of two model neurons that are coupled by reciprocal inhibition. One of the model neurons is an endogenous burster; the other is excitable but not bursting in the absence of phasic input. We show that the presence of a hyperpolarization activated inward current (ih) in the excitable neuron allows that neuron to fire once for every several bursts of the oscillator, depending on the amount of hyperpolarizing current injected into that neuron. This contrasts with the activity of the same network without ih where the excitable neuron fires after every burst of the oscillator or fails to fire completely.