"Cortical neurons receive balanced excitatory and inhibitory synaptic currents.
Such a balance could be
established and maintained in an experience-dependent manner by synaptic plasticity at inhibitory
synapses.
We show that this mechanism provides an explanation for the sparse firing patterns observed
in response to natural stimuli and fits well with a recently observed interaction of excitatory and
inhibitory receptive field plasticity.
...
Our results suggest an essential
role of inhibitory plasticity in the formation and maintenance of functional cortical circuitry."
Reference:
1 .
Vogels TP, Sprekeler H, Zenke F, Clopath C, Gerstner W (2011) Inhibitory plasticity balances excitation and inhibition in sensory pathways and memory networks. Science 334:1569-73 [PubMed]
|
