New biophysical rate-based modeling of long-term plasticity in mean-field neuronal population models

The formation of customized neural networks as the basis of brain functions such as receptive field selectivity, learning or memory depends heavily on the long-term plasticity of synaptic connections. However, the current mean-field population models commonly used to simulate large-scale neural network dynamics lack explicit links to the underlying cellular mechanisms of long-term plasticity. In this study, we developed a new mean-field population model, the plastic density-based neural mass model (pdNMM), by incorporating a newly developed rate-based plasticity model based on the calcium control hypothesis into an existing density-based neural mass model. Derivation of the plasticity model was carried out using population density methods. Our results showed that the synaptic plasticity represented by the resulting rate-based plasticity model exhibited Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro-like learning rules. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the pdNMM accurately reproduced previous experimental observations of long-term plasticity, including characteristics of Hebbian plasticity such as longevity, associativity and input specificity, on hippocampal slices, and the formation of receptive field selectivity in the visual cortex. In conclusion, the pdNMM is a novel approach that can confer long-term plasticity to conventional mean-field neuronal population models.