title: Optogenetic stimulation effectively enhances intrinsically generated network synchrony.
abstract: Synchronized bursting is found in many brain areas and has also been implicated in the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia. Despite extensive studies of network burst synchronization, it is insufficiently understood how this type of network wide synchronization can be strengthened, reduced, or even abolished. We combined electrical recording using multi-electrode array with optical stimulation of cultured channelrhodopsin-2 transducted hippocampal neurons to study and manipulate network burst synchronization. We found low frequency photo-stimulation protocols that are sufficient to induce potentiation of network bursting, modifying bursting dynamics, and increasing interneuronal synchronization. Surprisingly, slowly fading-in light stimulation, which substantially delayed and reduced light-driven spiking, was at least as effective in reorganizing network dynamics as much stronger pulsed light stimulation. Our study shows that mild stimulation protocols that do not enforce particular activity patterns onto the network can be highly effective inducers of network-level plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Neurophysics, Department of Non-linear Dynamics, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Göttingen, Germany ; Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine Göttingen, Germany ; Bernstein Focus for Neurotechnology Göttingen, Germany ; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, Germany ; The Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Center 889 "Cellular Mechanisms of Sensory Processing" Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El Hady
authors.forename: Ghazaleh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Afshar
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bröking
authors.forename: Oliver M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Schlüter
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Geisel
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stühmer
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D062308:Optogenetics; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
keywords: bursting; multi-electrode arrays; network-level plasticity; optogenetics; synchronization