How Network Constituents Influence Temporal Pattern Formation Within In Vitro Neural Networks

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In this project, the PI will study how the diversity of the constituents influence the principles of self-organization that underlie network phenomena. As the fraction of inhibitory neurons within a network of excitatory and inhibitory Neurons changes, the PI hypothesizes that one can elucidate the underlying functional rules that are present despite the absence of native anatomy. Using multi-electrode arrays the PI will characterize network dynamical function to generate new testable hypotheses. This project will address a fundamental question: How does modulating the excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) ratio influence synaptic tuning to adapt while maintaining a stable state? In this project the PI will vary this ratio by adding striatal cells (inhibitory) to single cell suspensions of hippocampal (excitatory) neurons and record spontaneous electrical network activity. The excitability will be increased by using a pharmacological paradigm for long-term potentiation, a mechanism believed to be the cellular basis of learning and memory. Immunostaining and confocal microscopy imaging studies will assess the distribution of synapses for these ratios. The proposed study will not only increase our understanding from an experimental perspective of how robustness and adaptability can coexist in networks of neurons, but results will provide a framework that can be used to develop realistic computational models. These techniques and concepts will be disseminated to a broader audience to students from Howard University as well as underrepresented minority students at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA. Undergraduate and graduate education will be impacted through the teaching of the Research Modules for the Cognitive Science undergraduate program and the Neurons in Action 2 summer workshop that encompasses graduate students from Howard University and incoming Georgetown University graduate students in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience.