summary: New research reveals that the brain’s cortex self-organizes during development and can transform unorganized input into highly structured patterns of activity. This self-organization is guided by mathematical rules similar to those found in other natural systems. Disruption of these patterns can affect sensory perception and contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.
Important facts:
- The cortex can self-organize neural activity during development.
- This self-organization is guided by mathematical rules found in nature.
- Disruption of these patterns may contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders.
sauce: University of Minnesota
Published in nature communicationsan international collaboration between researchers at the University of Minnesota and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Study, investigated how highly organized patterns of neural activity emerge during development.
They found that the brain cortex can transform unorganized input into highly organized patterns of activity, demonstrating self-organization.
“What’s so significant about this change is that it appears to be occurring entirely within the cortex itself, demonstrating that the brain is capable of organizing its own functions during development,” said Dr. Gordon Smith, assistant professor in the U of M’s School of Medicine.
“This means that any disruption to these small-scale interactions can dramatically alter brain function, which impacts sensory perception and contributes to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. This suggests that it may be a contributing factor.”
In self-organizing systems, small-scale interactions combine to generate large-scale organizations. By closely combining theory and experiment, the research team developed mathematical rules similar to those found to govern patterns in a wide range of living and abiotic systems, such as the spacing of certain fish spots or the spacing of sand dunes. We were able to show that there is. , which also guides brain development.
“Our results suggest that patterns of neural activity in the early cortex arise dynamically through feedback loops that involve a balance between local activation and lateral inhibition, and extend theories of brain development dating back several decades. “This confirms our hypothesis,” said Dr Matthias Kashube, a professor at the University of Frankfurt. Institute for Advanced Study and Research Collaborator.
The research team used optical tools recently developed at the University of Minnesota to directly understand how the large-scale structure of developing brain networks emerges from the networks themselves, rather than being imprinted from external sources. I have proven it.
“By using cutting-edge optical technology, these experiments allow us to test long-held scientific theories and show that the brain organizes its own activities early in development. ” said Dr. Smith, who is also a member of the medical discovery team. Papers on optical imaging and brain science.
Ongoing research is investigating how changes in these self-organized neural activity patterns during early development influence sensory perception later in development.
Funding: Funding was provided by the National Eye Institute [grant R01EY030893-01]Whitehall Foundation [2018-05-57]National Science Foundation [IIS-2011542]and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. [BMBF 01GQ2002].
About this neurodevelopmental research news
author: alexandra smith
sauce: University of Minnesota
contact: Alexandra Smith – University of Minnesota
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Self-organization of modular activity in immature cortical networks” by Gordon Smith et al. nature communications
Abstract
Self-organization of modular activity in immature cortical networks
During development, cortical activity is organized into distributed modular patterns that are precursors to mature columnar functional structures.
Theoretically, such structured neural activity could dynamically emerge from local synaptic interactions via a recurrent network with effective local excitation accompanied by lateral inhibitory (LE/LI) connections.
We simultaneously utilize wide-field calcium imaging and optogenetics in the pre-eye-opening juvenile ferret cortex to directly test several key predictions of LE/LI mechanisms. We show that cortical networks convert homogeneous stimuli into diverse modular patterns exhibiting characteristic spatial wavelengths.
Furthermore, patterned optogenetic stimulation that matches this wavelength selectively biases the evoked activity pattern, whereas stimulation with different wavelengths converts activity toward this characteristic wavelength. , revealing a dynamic compromise between input drives and the network’s intrinsic tendency to organize activity.
Furthermore, the structure of early spontaneous cortical activity, reflected in the developing representation of visual direction, largely overlaps with the structure of uniform light-evoked activity, forming an orderly columnar map that underlies sensory representations in the brain. This suggests that there is a common mechanism underlying the
