Optimal compensation for neuron loss
Abstract
The brain has an impressive ability to withstand neural damage. Diseases that kill neurons can go unnoticed for years, and incomplete brain lesions or silencing of neurons often fail to produce any behavioral effect. How does the brain compensate for such damage, and what are the limits of this compensation? We propose that neural circuits immediately compensate for neuron loss, thereby preserving their function as much as possible. We show that this compensation can explain changes in tuning curves induced by neuron silencing across a variety of systems, including the primary visual cortex. We find that compensatory mechanisms can be implemented through the dynamics of networks with a tight balance of excitation and inhibition, without requiring synaptic plasticity. The limits of this compensatory mechanism are reached when excitation and inhibition become unbalanced, thereby demarcating a recovery boundary, where signal representation fails and where diseases may become symptomatic.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Emmy-Noether)
- Christian K Machens
Agence Nationale de Recherche (Chaire d'Excellence)
- Christian K Machens
James McDonnell Foundation
- Christian K Machens
European Research Council (ERC FP7-PREDSPIKE)
- Christian K Machens
European Research Council (BIND MECT-CT-20095-024831)
- Christian K Machens
European Research Council (BACS 796 FP6-IST-027140)
- Christian K Machens
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2016, Barrett et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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