Unbalanced excitability underlies offline reactivation of behaviorally activated neurons

Hippocampal sharp waves (SWs)/ripples represent the reactivation of neurons involved in recently acquired memory and are crucial for memory consolidation. By labeling active cells with fluorescent protein under the control of an immediate-early gene promoter, we found that neurons that had been activated while mice explored a novel environment were preferentially reactivated during spontaneous SWs in hippocampal slices in vitro. During SWs, the reactivated neurons received strong excitatory synaptic inputs as opposed to a globally tuned network balance between excitation and inhibition.