Hours of high-frequency stimulations reveal intracellular neuronal trends in vivo

The neuronal response to controlled stimulations in vivo has been classically estimated using a limited number of events. Here we show that hours of high-frequency stimulations and recordings of neurons in vivo reveal previously unknown response phases of neurons in the intact brain. Results indicate that for stimulation frequencies below a critical neuronal characteristic frequency, f _c, response timings are stabilized to tens-of-microseconds accuracy. For stimulation frequencies exceeding f _c the firing frequency is saturated and independent of the stimulation frequency, as a result of random neuronal response failures. This neuronal plasticity, previously shown in vitro, supports a robust mechanism for low firing rates on a network level.