Quantifying dissipation in stochastic complex oscillations

Abstract: Fluctuations-driven complex oscillations are experimentally observed in cellular systems such as hepatocytes, cardiac cells, neuronal cells, etc. These systems are generally operating in regimes far from thermodynamic equilibrium. To study nonequilibrium thermodynamic properties such as energy dissipation in stochastic complex oscillations, we consider stochastic modeling of two nonlinear biological oscillators, namely, the intracellular calcium (Ca$^{2+}$) oscillation model and the Hindmarsh-Rose model for neuronal dynamics. These models exhibit various types of complex oscillations like bursting and quasi-periodic oscillations for various system parameter values. In this work, we formulate open chemical reaction schemes for the two model systems driving the systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium. We then analyze the steady-state total entropy production rate (EPR) in the various types of stochastic complex oscillations. Our results show higher values of steady-state total EPR in stochastic complex oscillations than simple periodic oscillations. Moreover, in the Hindmarsh-Rose neuronal model, we observe an order-to-disorder transition from periodic (organized) bursts of spikes to chaotic (unorganized) oscillations with distinct behaviors of steady-state total EPR. Our results reveal that stochastic complex oscillations are produced at the cost of higher energy consumption and that it requires a higher thermodynamic cost to maintain the periodic bursts than chaotic oscillations. Our findings indicate that complex cellular regulatory or signaling processes by Ca$^{2+}$ that help perform complex tasks of the nervous system or rich information coding by neurons involve a higher thermodynamic cost. The results deepen our understanding of energy dissipation in nonlinear, nonequilibrium biological systems with stochastic complex oscillatory dynamics.