History-dependent state selection after transient coupling loss in a conductance-based bioelectric network

Background: Bioelectric bistability and memory are established phenomena, but restoring intercellular coupling does not necessarily restore the previous electrical state. We examined whether a temporary coupling perturbation selects different stable states when the final weighted network and external input are identical. Methods:A synthetic network of 226 cells and 622 undirected connections combined leak and voltage-dependent potassium currents with either a persistent or an inactivating depolarizing current. We compared uninterrupted coupling with temporary interface weakening followed by exact restoration. Local equilibria, triangular current ramps, network stationarity and Jacobian eigenvalues distinguished kinetic lag from persistent state selection. A frozen validation comprised 136 unique network conditions and six isolated-cell protocols, including source/geometry variants, a sampled parameter map and an alternative cubic bistable mechanism. Results: At the lower fixed stimulus, restored networks recruited all receivers while intact networks retained localized activation in all five source/geometry configurations. History-dependent final-state differences occurred in 24 of 42 interface comparisons across the sampled conductance–restoration grid. The cubic mechanism had two stable equilibria and demonstrable hysteretic switching, yet all 21 stimulated network conditions returned to rest without receiver recruitment. All validation conditions passed refinement checks, with unchanged classifications in 44 independent-solver comparisons. Earlier numerical discrepancies and their corrections were retained. Conclusion: In the tested synthetic conductance-based network, transient perturbation of intercellular coupling altered stable state selection even after exact restoration of the original weighted connectivity. This is a controlled extension of established attractor and bioelectric-memory concepts. The negative cubic comparison shows that bistability and hysteresis alone did not suffice under the fixed stimulation protocol; physiological generality and priority of the exact comparison remain unestablished.