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Inhibitory neurons exhibit high controlling ability in the cortical microconnectome.

Motoki Kajiwara1, Ritsuki Nomura1, Felix Goetze2,3

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Inhibitory neurons, though fewer, exert significant control over brain activity. This study reveals their high controlling ability is key to balancing excitatory neurons, crucial for brain function.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Computational Neuroscience
  • Systems Neuroscience

Background:

  • The brain's microconnectome relies on a balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurons.
  • Inhibitory neurons are less numerous than excitatory neurons in the cortex, raising questions about their balancing role.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantitatively assess the functional contribution of inhibitory neurons.
  • To investigate their topological mechanisms and control over excitatory neurons.
  • To understand how inhibitory neurons maintain network balance.

Main Methods:

  • Simultaneous electrical recording of approximately 1000 neurons in vitro for 2.5 hours.
  • Quantitative evaluation of neuronal interactions and excitatory-inhibitory categorization.
  • Defining anatomical targets using MRI and immunostaining, enabling network analysis.

Main Results:

  • Highly influential inhibitory neurons demonstrate superior controlling ability over other neurons compared to excitatory neurons.
  • These influential inhibitory neurons are predominantly located in deeper cortical layers.
  • Neurons with high controlling ability are sparser than central k-core nodes and participate in more clustered motifs.

Conclusions:

  • The high controlling ability of inhibitory neurons is a primary mechanism for balancing a larger population of excitatory neurons.
  • This control extends beyond mere firing rate differences.
  • The identified method for selecting important neurons could aid in stimulating E/I imbalanced disease states.