Self-organization of modular activity in immature cortical networks

Haleigh N. Mulholland, Matthias Kaschube and Gordon B. Smith ()
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Haleigh N. Mulholland: University of Minnesota
Matthias Kaschube: Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Gordon B. Smith: University of Minnesota

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract During development, cortical activity is organized into distributed modular patterns that are a precursor of the mature columnar functional architecture. Theoretically, such structured neural activity can emerge dynamically from local synaptic interactions through a recurrent network with effective local excitation with lateral inhibition (LE/LI) connectivity. Utilizing simultaneous widefield calcium imaging and optogenetics in juvenile ferret cortex prior to eye opening, we directly test several critical predictions of an LE/LI mechanism. We show that cortical networks transform uniform stimulations into diverse modular patterns exhibiting a characteristic spatial wavelength. Moreover, patterned optogenetic stimulation matching this wavelength selectively biases evoked activity patterns, while stimulation with varying wavelengths transforms activity towards this characteristic wavelength, revealing a dynamic compromise between input drive and the network’s intrinsic tendency to organize activity. Furthermore, the structure of early spontaneous cortical activity – which is reflected in the developing representations of visual orientation – strongly overlaps that of uniform opto-evoked activity, suggesting a common underlying mechanism as a basis for the formation of orderly columnar maps underlying sensory representations in the brain.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48341-x

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