Neuronal regulation: A biologically plausible mechanism for efficient synaptic pruning in development

Gal Chechik, Isaac Meilijson, Eytan Ruppin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Neuronal regulation is a mechanism that was recently found to maintain the homeostasis of the neuron's membrane potential. We show that the operation of neuronal regulation changes the distribution of synaptic efficacies, pruning the weak synapses and strengthening the rest. Deriving optimal synaptic modification functions, we identify conditions under which neuronal regulation leads to near-optimal modification of synaptic efficacies, with considerable gain in memory performance. These results point to the possible important role of neuronal regulation as a biologically plausible mechanism that governs the fundamental process of synaptic pruning observed in mammalian brain development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)633-639
Number of pages7
JournalNeurocomputing
Volume26-27
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1999
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Brain development
  • Neuronal regulation
  • Synaptic pruning
  • Weight normalization

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Neuronal regulation: A biologically plausible mechanism for efficient synaptic pruning in development'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this