article
Repertoires of Spike Avalanches Are Modulated by Behavior and Novelty
Fecha
2016Registro en:
Ribeiro TL, Ribeiro S and Copelli M (2016) Repertoires of Spike Avalanches Are Modulated by Behavior and Novelty. Front. Neural Circuits 10:16. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2016.00016
Autor
Ribeiro, Tiago L.
Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Copelli, Mauro
Resumen
Neuronal avalanches measured as consecutive bouts of thresholded field potentials
represent a statistical signature that the brain operates near a critical point. In
theory, criticality optimizes stimulus sensitivity, information transmission, computational
capability and mnemonic repertoires size. Field potential avalanches recorded via
multielectrode arrays from cortical slice cultures are repeatable spatiotemporal activity
patterns. It remains unclear whether avalanches of action potentials observed in forebrain
regions of freely-behaving rats also form recursive repertoires, and whether these
have any behavioral relevance. Here, we show that spike avalanches, recorded from
hippocampus (HP) and sensory neocortex of freely-behaving rats, constitute distinct
families of recursive spatiotemporal patterns. A significant number of those patterns
were specific to a behavioral state. Although avalanches produced during sleep were
mostly similar to others that occurred during waking, the repertoire of patterns recruited
during sleep differed significantly from that of waking. More importantly, exposure to
novel objects increased the rate at which new patterns arose, also leading to changes
in post-exposure repertoires, which were significantly different from those before the
exposure. A significant number of families occurred exclusively during periods of whisker
contact with objects, but few were associated with specific objects. Altogether, the
results provide original evidence linking behavior and criticality at the spike level: spike
avalanches form repertoires that emerge in waking, recur during sleep, are diversified by
novelty and contribute to object representation.