Entrainment of the intrinsic dynamics of single isolated neurons by natural-like input

Neuronal dynamics is intrinsically unstable, producing activity fluctuations that are essentially scale free. Here we study single cortical neurons of newborn rats in vitro, and show that while these scale-free fluctuations are independent of temporal input statistics, they can be entrained by input variation. Joint input-output statistics and spike train reproducibility in synaptically isolated cortical neurons were measured in response to various input regimes over extended timescales (many minutes). Response entrainment was found to be maximal when the input itself possesses natural-like, scale-free statistics. We conclude that preference for natural stimuli, often observed at the system level, exists already at the elementary, single neuron level.