In Pursuit of Activity Dependent Synaptic Plasticity Rules for Cerebellar Motor Learning: A Computational Study

Abstract Postsynaptic ionotropic receptors critically shape synaptic currents and underpin their activity-dependent plasticity. In recent years, regulation of expression of these receptors by slow inward and outward currents mediated by gliotransmitter release from astrocytes has come under scrutiny as a potentially important mechanism for the regulation of synaptic information transfer. In this study, we consider a model of astrocyte-regulated synapses to investigate this hypothesis at the level of layered networks of interacting neurons and astrocytes. Our simulations hint that gliotransmission sustains the transfer function across layers, although it decorrelates the neuronal activity from the signal pattern. Overall, our results make clear how astrocytes could transform neuronal activity by inducing a lowfrequency modulation of postsynaptic activity.

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Synaptic Plasticity Underlying the Cerebellar Motor Learning Investigated in Rabbit’s Flocculus

Advances in Behavioral Biology - Conditioning ◽

10.1007/978-1-4757-0701-4_15 ◽

1982 ◽

pp. 213-222 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Masao Ito

Keyword(s):

Synaptic Plasticity ◽

Motor Learning

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Hebbian activity-dependent plasticity in white matter

10.1101/2022.01.11.473633 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Alberto Lazari ◽

Piergiorgio Salvan ◽

Michiel Cottaar ◽

Daniel Papp ◽

Matthew FS Rushworth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Synaptic Plasticity ◽

White Matter ◽

Associative Learning ◽

Fiber Bundle ◽

Cortical Excitability ◽

Brain Plasticity ◽

Cortical Areas ◽

Hebbian Plasticity ◽

Synaptic Changes ◽

Activity Dependent

Synaptic plasticity is required for learning and follows Hebb's Rule, the computational principle underpinning associative learning. In recent years, a complementary type of brain plasticity has been identified in myelinated axons, which make up the majority of brain's white matter. Like synaptic plasticity, myelin plasticity is required for learning, but it is unclear whether it is Hebbian or whether it follows different rules. Here, we provide evidence that white matter plasticity operates following Hebb's Rule in humans. Across two experiments, we find that co-stimulating cortical areas to induce Hebbian plasticity leads to relative increases in cortical excitability and associated increases in a myelin marker within the stimulated fiber bundle. We conclude that Hebbian plasticity extends beyond synaptic changes, and can be observed in human white matter fibers.

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Coupling an aVLSI Neuromorphic Vision Chip to a Neurotrophic Model of Synaptic Plasticity: The Development of Topography

Neural Computation ◽

10.1162/08997660260293256 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 2353-2370 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Terry Elliott ◽

Jörg Kramer

Keyword(s):

Synaptic Plasticity ◽

Neuronal Development ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Biologically Inspired ◽

Silicon Neurons ◽

Retina Chip ◽

Developing System ◽

Activity Dependent

We couple a previously studied, biologically inspired neurotrophic model of activity-dependent competitive synaptic plasticity and neuronal development to a neuromorphic retina chip. Using this system, we examine the development and refinement of a topographic mapping between an array of afferent neurons (the retinal ganglion cells) and an array of target neurons. We find that the plasticity model can indeed drive topographic refinement in the presence of afferent activity patterns generated by a real-world device. We examine the resilience of the developing system to the presence of high levels of noise by adjusting the spontaneous firing rate of the silicon neurons.

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