Modulation of intercolumnar synchronization by endogenous electric fields in cerebral cortex

" We analyzed spontaneously generated slow-wave activity in the cerebral cortex network in vitro, which allowed us to distinguish synaptic from nonsynaptic mechanisms of activity propagation and synchronization. Slow oscillations generated EFs that propagated independently of synaptic transmission. We demonstrate that cortical oscillations modulate spontaneous rhythmic activity of neighboring synaptically disconnected cortical columns if layers are aligned. We provide experimental evidence that these EF-mediated effects are compatible with electric dipoles." {Credits 1}

" The similarity between the waves recorded from the pharmacologically disconnected network (Ld-side) and from the physically disconnected (R-side) network suggests that the cut hardly had any effect on the detected EF activity." {Credits 1}

" These results demonstrated that the frequency variation on the R-side was the consequence of the frequency variation on the Lt-side and that there is a trend toward converging in oscillatory frequency, a feature that we will replicate and quantify in our computer model (see below). Then, we can conclude that EFs generated from slow oscillations are able to modulate and eventually entrain a synaptically disconnected network and thus might have a role in the synchronization of neighboring cortical columns." {Credits 1}

" More generally, we expect that the effect found here should be even stronger in two-dimensional networks of cerebral cortex in vivo where pyramidal neuron dipoles are arranged in parallel and can thus receive EF-mediated depolarization from their broad neighborhood. In addition, the interaction can be further enhanced by the positive feedback between synchrony, inducing stronger EFs, which further increases synchrony, and so on." {Credits 1}

{Credits 1} 🎪 B. Rebollo, B. Telenczuk, A. Navarro-Guzman, A. Destexhe, M. V. Sanchez-Vives, Modulation of intercolumnar synchronization by endogenous electric fields in cerebral cortex. Sci. Adv. 7, eabc7772 (2021). © 2021 The Authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License..