Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codes

Summary: We hypothesized that the heterogeneous architecture of biological neural networks provides a substrate to regulate the well-known tradeoff between robustness and efficiency, thereby allowing different subpopulations of the same network to optimize for different objectives. To distinguish be...

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Main Authors: Daniela Egas Santander, Christoph Pokorny, András Ecker, Jānis Lazovskis, Matteo Santoro, Jason P. Smith, Kathryn Hess, Ran Levi, Michael W. Reimann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:iScience
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224028128
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author Daniela Egas Santander
Christoph Pokorny
András Ecker
Jānis Lazovskis
Matteo Santoro
Jason P. Smith
Kathryn Hess
Ran Levi
Michael W. Reimann
author_facet Daniela Egas Santander
Christoph Pokorny
András Ecker
Jānis Lazovskis
Matteo Santoro
Jason P. Smith
Kathryn Hess
Ran Levi
Michael W. Reimann
author_sort Daniela Egas Santander
collection DOAJ
description Summary: We hypothesized that the heterogeneous architecture of biological neural networks provides a substrate to regulate the well-known tradeoff between robustness and efficiency, thereby allowing different subpopulations of the same network to optimize for different objectives. To distinguish between subpopulations, we developed a metric based on the mathematical theory of simplicial complexes that captures the complexity of their connectivity by contrasting its higher-order structure to a random control and confirmed its relevance in several openly available connectomes. Using a biologically detailed cortical model and an electron microscopic dataset, we showed that subpopulations with low simplicial complexity exhibit efficient activity. Conversely, subpopulations of high simplicial complexity play a supporting role in boosting the reliability of the network as a whole, softening the robustness-efficiency tradeoff. Crucially, we found that both types of subpopulations can and do coexist within a single connectome in biological neural networks, due to the heterogeneity of their connectivity.
format Article
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institution DOAJ
issn 2589-0042
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publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Elsevier
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spelling doaj-art-5aff29ff41314481bd3b87268e7f33c02025-08-20T02:53:15ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-01-0128111158510.1016/j.isci.2024.111585Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codesDaniela Egas Santander0Christoph Pokorny1András Ecker2Jānis Lazovskis3Matteo Santoro4Jason P. Smith5Kathryn Hess6Ran Levi7Michael W. Reimann8Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 6 Geneva, Switzerland; Corresponding authorBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 6 Geneva, SwitzerlandBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 6 Geneva, SwitzerlandRiga Business School, Riga Technical University, 1010 Riga, LatviaScuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), 34136 Trieste, ItalyDepartment of Mathematics, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UKUPHESS, BMI, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Mathematics, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UKBlue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 6 Geneva, SwitzerlandSummary: We hypothesized that the heterogeneous architecture of biological neural networks provides a substrate to regulate the well-known tradeoff between robustness and efficiency, thereby allowing different subpopulations of the same network to optimize for different objectives. To distinguish between subpopulations, we developed a metric based on the mathematical theory of simplicial complexes that captures the complexity of their connectivity by contrasting its higher-order structure to a random control and confirmed its relevance in several openly available connectomes. Using a biologically detailed cortical model and an electron microscopic dataset, we showed that subpopulations with low simplicial complexity exhibit efficient activity. Conversely, subpopulations of high simplicial complexity play a supporting role in boosting the reliability of the network as a whole, softening the robustness-efficiency tradeoff. Crucially, we found that both types of subpopulations can and do coexist within a single connectome in biological neural networks, due to the heterogeneity of their connectivity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224028128biological sciencescomputer sciencenatural sciences
spellingShingle Daniela Egas Santander
Christoph Pokorny
András Ecker
Jānis Lazovskis
Matteo Santoro
Jason P. Smith
Kathryn Hess
Ran Levi
Michael W. Reimann
Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codes
iScience
biological sciences
computer science
natural sciences
title Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codes
title_full Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codes
title_fullStr Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codes
title_full_unstemmed Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codes
title_short Heterogeneous and higher-order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient, robust, and reliable neural codes
title_sort heterogeneous and higher order cortical connectivity undergirds efficient robust and reliable neural codes
topic biological sciences
computer science
natural sciences
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224028128
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