Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond

Experimental neuroscience is witnessing an increased interest in the development and application of novel and often complex, closed-loop protocols, where ...

University of Antwerp

This paper provides a global picture of the bifurcation scenario of the Hindmarsh-Rose model. A combination between simulations and numerical continuations is used to unfold the complex bifurcation structure. The bifurcation analysis is carried out by varying two bifurcation parameters and evidence is given that the structure that is found is universal and appears for all combinations of bifurcation parameters. The information about the organizing principles and bifurcation diagrams are then used to compare the dynamics of the model with that of a piecewise-linear approximation, customized for circuit implementation. A good match between the dynamical behaviors of the models is found. These results can be used both to design a circuit implementation of the Hindmarsh-Rose model mimicking the diversity of neural response and as guidelines to predict the behavior of the model as well as its circuit implementation as a function of parameters.

The Hindmarsh-Rose neuron model: bifurcation analysis and piecewise-linear approximations.

Stochastic channel gating is the major source of intrinsic neuronal noise whose functional consequences at the microcircuit- and network-levels have been only partly explored. A systematic study of this channel noise in large ensembles of biophysically detailed model neurons calls for the availability of fast numerical methods. In fact, exact techniques employ the microscopic simulation of the random opening and closing of individual ion channels, usually based on Markov models, whose computational loads are prohibitive for next generation massive computer models of the brain. In this work, we operatively define a procedure for translating any Markov model describing voltage- or ligand-gated membrane ion-conductances into an effective stochastic version, whose computer simulation is efficient, without compromising accuracy. Our approximation is based on an improved Langevin-like approach, which employs stochastic differential equations and no Montecarlo methods. As opposed to an earlier proposal recently debated in the literature, our approximation reproduces accurately the statistical properties of the exact microscopic simulations, under a variety of conditions, from spontaneous to evoked response features. In addition, our method is not restricted to the Hodgkin-Huxley sodium and potassium currents and is general for a variety of voltage- and ligand-gated ion currents. As a by-product, the analysis of the properties emerging in exact Markov schemes by standard probability calculus enables us for the first time to analytically identify the sources of inaccuracy of the previous proposal, while providing solid ground for its modification and improvement we present here.

Accurate and fast simulation of channel noise in conductance-based model neurons by diffusion approximation.

Understanding the computational capabilities of the nervous system means to "identify" its emergent multiscale dynamics. For this purpose, we propose a novel model-driven identification procedure and apply it to sparsely connected populations of excitatory integrate-and-fire neurons with spike frequency adaptation (SFA). Our method does not characterize the system from its microscopic elements in a bottom-up fashion, and does not resort to any linearization. We investigate networks as a whole, inferring their properties from the response dynamics of the instantaneous discharge rate to brief and aspecific supra-threshold stimulations. While several available methods assume generic expressions for the system as a black box, we adopt a mean-field theory for the evolution of the network transparently parameterized by identified elements (such as dynamic timescales), which are in turn non-trivially related to single-neuron properties. In particular, from the elicited transient responses, the input-output gain function of the neurons in the network is extracted and direct links to the microscopic level are made available: indeed, we show how to extract the decay time constant of the SFA, the absolute refractory period and the average synaptic efficacy. In addition and contrary to previous attempts, our method captures the system dynamics across bifurcations separating qualitatively different dynamical regimes. The robustness and the generality of the methodology is tested on controlled simulations, reporting a good agreement between theoretically expected and identified values. The assumptions behind the underlying theoretical framework make the method readily applicable to biological preparations like cultured neuron networks and in vitro brain slices.

Inferring network dynamics and neuron properties from population recordings.

The study of human cortical development has major implications for brain evolution and diseases but has remained elusive due to paucity of experimental models. Here we found that human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), cultured without added morphogens, recapitulate corticogenesis leading to the sequential generation of functional pyramidal neurons of all six layer identities. After transplantation into mouse neonatal brain, human ESC-derived cortical neurons integrated robustly and established specific axonal projections and dendritic patterns corresponding to native cortical neurons. The differentiation and connectivity of the transplanted human cortical neurons complexified progressively over several months in vivo, culminating in the establishment of functional synapses with the host circuitry. Our data demonstrate that human cortical neurons generated in vitro from ESC/iPSC can develop complex hodological properties characteristic of the cerebral cortex in vivo, thereby offering unprecedented opportunities for the modeling of human cortex diseases and brain repair.

Pyramidal neurons derived from human pluripotent stem cells integrate efficiently into mouse brain circuits in vivo.

Current software tools for electrophysiological experiments are limited in flexibility and rarely offer adequate support for advanced techniques such as dynamic clamp and hybrid experiments, which are therefore limited to laboratories with a significant expertise in neuroinformatics.

Command-line cellular electrophysiology for conventional and real-time closed-loop experiments.

Neuronal firing, synaptic transmission, and its plasticity form the building blocks for processing and storage of information in the brain. It is unknown whether adult human synapses are more efficient in transferring information between neurons than rodent synapses. To test this, we recorded from connected pairs of pyramidal neurons in acute brain slices of adult human and mouse temporal cortex and probed the dynamical properties of use-dependent plasticity. We found that human synaptic connections were purely depressing and that they recovered three to four times more swiftly from depression than synapses in rodent neocortex. Thereby, during realistic spike trains, the temporal resolution of synaptic information exchange in human synapses substantially surpasses that in mice. Using information theory, we calculate that information transfer between human pyramidal neurons exceeds that of mouse pyramidal neurons by four to nine times, well into the beta and gamma frequency range. In addition, we found that human principal cells tracked fine temporal features, conveyed in received synaptic inputs, at a wider bandwidth than for rodents. Action potential firing probability was reliably phase-locked to input transients up to 1,000 cycles/s because of a steep onset of action potentials in human pyramidal neurons during spike trains, unlike in rodent neurons. Our data show that, in contrast to the widely held views of limited information transfer in rodent depressing synapses, fast recovering synapses of human neurons can actually transfer substantial amounts of information during spike trains. In addition, human pyramidal neurons are equipped to encode high synaptic information content. Thus, adult human cortical microcircuits relay information at a wider bandwidth than rodent microcircuits.

High bandwidth synaptic communication and frequency tracking in human neocortex.

Synchronous spiking during cerebellar tasks has been observed across Purkinje cells: however, little is known about the intrinsic cellular mechanisms responsible for its initiation, cessation and stability. The Phase Response Curve (PRC), a simple input-output characterization of single cells, can provide insights into individual and collective properties of neurons and networks, by quantifying the impact of an infinitesimal depolarizing current pulse on the time of occurrence of subsequent action potentials, while a neuron is firing tonically. Recently, the PRC theory applied to cerebellar Purkinje cells revealed that these behave as phase-independent integrators at low firing rates, and switch to a phase-dependent mode at high rates. Given the implications for computation and information processing in the cerebellum and the possible role of synchrony in the communication with its post-synaptic targets, we further explored the firing rate dependency of the PRC in Purkinje cells. We isolated key factors for the experimental estimation of the PRC and developed a closed-loop approach to reliably compute the PRC across diverse firing rates in the same cell. Our results show unambiguously that the PRC of individual Purkinje cells is firing rate dependent and that it smoothly transitions from phase independent integrator to a phase dependent mode. Using computational models we show that neither channel noise nor a realistic cell morphology are responsible for the rate dependent shift in the phase response curve.

Daniele Linaro

Department of Biomedical Sciences

University of Antwerp

Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond

Daniele Linaro

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Biomedical Sciences

University of Antwerp

Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond

Department of Biomedical Sciences