Concurrence of form and function in developing networks and its role in synaptic pruning
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Springer Nature
Fecha
2018-06-08Referencia bibliográfica
A.P. Millan, J. J. Torres, S. Johnson and J. Marro, Concurrence of form and function in developing networks and its role in synaptic pruning’ , Nature Comm. 9, Article number: 2236 (2018) [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/51958]
Patrocinador
We are grateful for financial support from the Spanish MINECO (project of Excellence: FIS2017-84256-P) and from “Obra Social La Caixa”.Resumen
A fundamental question in neuroscience is how structure and function of neural systems are
related. We study this interplay by combining a familiar auto-associative neural network with
an evolving mechanism for the birth and death of synapses. A feedback loop then arises
leading to two qualitatively different types of behaviour. In one, the network structure
becomes heterogeneous and dissasortative, and the system displays good memory performance;
furthermore, the structure is optimised for the particular memory patterns stored
during the process. In the other, the structure remains homogeneous and incapable of pattern
retrieval. These findings provide an inspiring picture of brain structure and dynamics that
is compatible with experimental results on early brain development, and may help to explain
synaptic pruning. Other evolving networks—such as those of protein interactions—might
share the basic ingredients for this feedback loop and other questions, and indeed many of
their structural features are as predicted by our model.