It is found that the rhythmic oscillations of excitation inhibition balance in visual cortical circuits

For the first time, he Kaiwen, a researcher at the center for biological and chemical cross research, Shanghai Institute of organic chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Alfredo Kirkwood, a team from Johns Hopkins University, found that the balance between excitation and inhibition (E / I balance) of neurons showed rhythmic oscillations in the circadian cycle Through further study, it was found that the oscillations have neural loop specificity and are closely regulated by sleep / wake experience, and the endogenous cannabinoids in the brain are the key molecules mediating the regulation A research paper entitled daily interactions of the exception initiation balance in visual critical circuits was published in the academic journal Neuron on December 9 Michelle bridi of Johns Hopkins University and Zong fangjiao, Center for biological and chemical cross research, Shanghai Institute of organic science, Chinese Academy of sciences are the co first authors, and he Kaiwen and Alfredo Kirkwood are the co correspondents The processing and transmission of information in neurons depend on the excitatory synapses such as glutamate to transmit neural signals, and also depend on the inhibitory synapses such as GABA to limit the time and space of signal transmission Just as the combination of accelerator and brake determines whether the vehicle can drive safely and correctly, the balance between the excitation and inhibition of neurons (E / I balance) is the key factor to determine the function of neurons and neural networks, which can affect the social behavior and sensory perception performance of animals At the same time, a large number of studies have found that E / I balance is closely related to various nervous system diseases Therefore, it is very important to understand the regulation mechanism of E / I balance for understanding the regulation of brain function and related brain diseases With regard to the regulation of E / I balance of neurons, the current mainstream view is that neurons can maintain the stability of E / I balance through rapid plasticity regulation mechanism, so as to ensure the normal function of neurons However, just like the car in different driving scenarios, such as highway vs city main road, the proportion of accelerator and brake is obviously different, the brain will experience different physiological states in a day, and its information processing needs are not the same In the above work, the researchers revealed a new regulation mode and possible mechanism of E / I balance, and found that there is a slow periodic regulation mechanism of E / I balance of neurons in daytime and night, which can significantly change the fixed value of E / I balance in different periods This is not contradictory to the known dependence on plasticity to rapidly stabilize E / I balance The former needs to be realized several hours after day night transition, while the latter takes place in a few minutes or even less The researchers believe that the E / I balance will remain stable for the rest of the same cycle after reaching the new fixed value, which is likely to be the regulation mechanism of plasticity.