Work

Heterogeneous synaptic homeostasis: A novel mechanism boosting information propagation in the cortex

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Perceptual awareness of auditory stimuli decreases from wakefulness to sleep, largely due to reduced cortical responsiveness. During wakefulness, neural responses to external stimuli in most cortical areas exhibit a broader spatiotemporal propagation pattern compared to deep sleep. A potential mechanism for this phenomenon is the synaptic upscaling of cortical excitatory connections during wakefulness, as posited by the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis. However, we argue that uniform synaptic upscaling alone cannot fully account for this observation. We propose a novel mechanism suggesting that the upscaling of excitatory connections between different cortical areas exceeds that within individual cortical areas during wakefulness. Our computational results demonstrate that the former promotes the transfer of neural responses and information, whereas the latter has diminishing effects. These findings highlight the necessity of heterogeneous synaptic upscaling and suggest the presence of heterogeneity in receptor expression for neuromodulators involved in synaptic modulation along the dendrite.

Source: PLoS Computational Biology

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013398

Authors: Farhad Razi, Belén Sancristóbal

Institutions: Radboud University Nijmegen, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Language: English

Topic: Neural dynamics and brain function

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,043

Funders: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Fundación Bancaria Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona