Work

Persistent dynamic attractors in activity patterns of cultured neuronal networks

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: Three remarkable features of the nervous system--complex spatiotemporal patterns, oscillations, and persistent activity--are fundamental to such diverse functions as stereotypical motor behavior, working memory, and awareness. Here we report that cultured cortical networks spontaneously generate a hierarchical structure of periodic activity with a strongly stereotyped population-wide spatiotemporal structure demonstrating all three fundamental properties in a recurring pattern. During these "superbursts," the firing sequence of the culture periodically converges to a dynamic attractor orbit. Precursors of oscillations and persistent activity have previously been reported as intrinsic properties of the neurons. However, complex spatiotemporal patterns that are coordinated in a large population of neurons and persist over several hours--and thus are capable of representing and preserving information--cannot be explained by known oscillatory properties of isolated neurons. Instead, the complexity of the observed spatiotemporal patterns implies large-scale self-organization of neurons interacting in a precise temporal order even in vitro, in cultures usually considered to have random connectivity.

Source: Physical Review E

DOI: 10.1103/physreve.73.051907

Authors: Daniel A. Wagenaar, Zoltan Nadasdy, Steve M. Potter

Institutions: California Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Language: English

Topic: Neural dynamics and brain function

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering