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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neural Circuits
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fncir.2024.1519704
This article is part of the Research Topic Inducing Lifelong Plasticity (iPlasticity) by Brain Rejuvenation: Elucidation and Manipulation of Critical Period Mechanisms View all 10 articles

Neural Activity Responsiveness by Maturation of Inhibition Underlying Critical Period Plasticity

Provisionally accepted
Ibuki Matsumoto Ibuki Matsumoto 1Sou Nobukawa Sou Nobukawa 1*Takashi Kanamaru Takashi Kanamaru 2Yusuke Sakemi Yusuke Sakemi 1Nina Sviridova Nina Sviridova 3Tomoki Kurikawa Tomoki Kurikawa 4Nobuhiko Wagatsuma Nobuhiko Wagatsuma 5Kazuyuki Aihara Kazuyuki Aihara 6
  • 1 Chiba Institute of Technology, Narashino, Japan
  • 2 Kogakuin University, Shinjuku, Tōkyō, Japan
  • 3 Tokyo City University, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  • 4 Future University Hakodate, Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan
  • 5 Faculty of Science, Toho University, Funabashi, Chiba, Japan
  • 6 The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tōkyō, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Neural circuits develop during critical periods (CPs) and exhibit heightened plasticity to adapt to thethe surrounding environment. Accumulating evidence indicates that the maturation of inhibitory circuits, such as gamma-aminobutyric acid and parvalbumin-positive interneurons, plays a crucial role in CPs. Furthermore, this inhibition contributes to the generation of gamma oscillations. A previous theory of the CP mechanism suggested that the maturation of inhibition suppresses internally driven spontaneous activity and enables synaptic plasticity to respond to external stimuli. However, the neural activity response to external stimuli and neuronal oscillations at the neural population level during CPs has not yet been fully clarified.In the present study, we aimed to investigate neuronal response coherence at gamma-band frequencies by calculating the inter-trial phase coherence using a biologically plausible spiking neural network that exhibits gamma oscillations due to the interaction of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Our results demonstrated that neuronal response coherence to external periodic inputs exhibits an inverted U-shape with respect to the maturation of inhibition. Additionally, the peak of this profile was consistent with the moderate suppression of the gamma-band spontaneous 1 Ibuki Matsumoto et al.activity. This suggests that the response of the neuronal population, which is highly reproducible due to increased inhibition, may lead to heightened synaptic plasticity. Our computational model can help elucidate the underlying mechanisms that maximize synaptic plasticity at the neuronal population level during CPs.

    Keywords: critical period, gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, spontaneous activity, Inter-trial phase coherence, Spiking Neural network, synaptic plasticity

    Received: 30 Oct 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Matsumoto, Nobukawa, Kanamaru, Sakemi, Sviridova, Kurikawa, Wagatsuma and Aihara. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sou Nobukawa, Chiba Institute of Technology, Narashino, Japan

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