Neuronal Avalanches in Neocortical Circuits
John M. Beggs,Dietmar Plenz +1 more
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This work shows that propagation of spontaneous activity in cortical networks is described by equations that govern avalanches, and suggests that “neuronal avalanches” may be a generic property of cortical networks, and represent a mode of activity that differs profoundly from oscillatory, synchronized, or wave-like network states.Abstract:
Networks of living neurons exhibit diverse patterns of activity, including oscillations, synchrony, and waves. Recent work in physics has shown yet another mode of activity in systems composed of many nonlinear units interacting locally. For example, avalanches, earthquakes, and forest fires all propagate in systems organized into a critical state in which event sizes show no characteristic scale and are described by power laws. We hypothesized that a similar mode of activity with complex emergent properties could exist in networks of cortical neurons. We investigated this issue in mature organotypic cultures and acute slices of rat cortex by recording spontaneous local field potentials continuously using a 60 channel multielectrode array. Here, we show that propagation of spontaneous activity in cortical networks is described by equations that govern avalanches. As predicted by theory for a critical branching process, the propagation obeys a power law with an exponent of -3/2 for event sizes, with a branching parameter close to the critical value of 1. Simulations show that a branching parameter at this value optimizes information transmission in feedforward networks, while preventing runaway network excitation. Our findings suggest that “neuronal avalanches” may be a generic property of cortical networks, and represent a mode of activity that differs profoundly from oscillatory, synchronized, or wave-like network states. In the critical state, the network may satisfy the competing demands of information transmission and network stability.read more
Citations
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Organization, development and function of complex brain networks
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Reconstruction and Simulation of Neocortical Microcircuitry
Henry Markram,Henry Markram,Eilif Muller,Srikanth Ramaswamy,Michael W. Reimann,Marwan Abdellah,Carlos Aguado Sanchez,Anastasia Ailamaki,Lidia Alonso-Nanclares,Lidia Alonso-Nanclares,Nicolas Antille,Selim Arsever,Guy Antoine Atenekeng Kahou,Thomas K. Berger,Ahmet Bilgili,Nenad Buncic,Athanassia Chalimourda,Giuseppe Chindemi,Jean Denis Courcol,Fabien Delalondre,Vincent Delattre,Shaul Druckmann,Shaul Druckmann,Raphael Dumusc,James Dynes,Stefan Eilemann,Eyal Gal,Michael Gevaert,Jean Pierre Ghobril,Albert Gidon,Joe W. Graham,Anirudh Gupta,Valentin Haenel,Etay Hay,Thomas Heinis,Thomas Heinis,Juan Hernando,Michael L. Hines,Lida Kanari,Daniel Keller,John Kenyon,Georges Khazen,Yihwa Kim,James G. King,Zoltán F. Kisvárday,Pramod Kumbhar,Sebastien Lasserre,Jean Vincent Le Bé,Bruno R. C. Magalhães,Angel Merchán-Pérez,Angel Merchán-Pérez,Julie Meystre,Benjamin Roy Morrice,Jeffrey Muller,Alberto Muñoz-Céspedes,Alberto Muñoz-Céspedes,Shruti Muralidhar,Keerthan Muthurasa,Daniel Nachbaur,Taylor Howard Newton,Max Nolte,Aleksandr Ovcharenko,Juan Palacios,Luis Pastor,Rodrigo Perin,Rajnish Ranjan,Rajnish Ranjan,Imad Riachi,José-Rodrigo Rodríguez,José-Rodrigo Rodríguez,Juan Luis Riquelme,Christian Rössert,Konstantinos Sfyrakis,Ying Shi,Ying Shi,Julian C. Shillcock,Gilad Silberberg,Ricardo Silva,Farhan Tauheed,Martin Telefont,Maria Toledo-Rodriguez,Thomas Tränkler,Werner Van Geit,Jafet Villafranca Diaz,Richard Walker,Yun Wang,Yun Wang,Stefano M. Zaninetta,Javier DeFelipe,Javier DeFelipe,Sean Hill,Idan Segev,Felix Schürmann +92 more
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