Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity
Summary: Recent advances in microcircuit analysis of nervous systems have revealed a plethora of mutual connections between inhibitory interneurons across many different species and brain regions. The abundance of these mutual connections has not been fully explained. Strikingly, we show that neural...
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Elsevier
2025-02-01
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| Series: | iScience |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224029456 |
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| author | Belle Liu Alexander James White Chung-Chuan Lo |
| author_facet | Belle Liu Alexander James White Chung-Chuan Lo |
| author_sort | Belle Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Recent advances in microcircuit analysis of nervous systems have revealed a plethora of mutual connections between inhibitory interneurons across many different species and brain regions. The abundance of these mutual connections has not been fully explained. Strikingly, we show that neural circuits with mutually inhibitory connections are able to rapidly and flexibly switch between distinct functions. That is, multiple functions coexist for a single set of synaptic weights. Here, we develop a theoretical framework to explain how inhibitory recurrent circuits give rise to this flexibility and show that mutual inhibition doubles the number of cusp bifurcations in small neural circuits. As a concrete example, we study a class of functional motifs we call coupled recurrent inhibitory and recurrent excitatory loops (CRIRELs). These CRIRELs have the advantage of being both multi-functional and controllable, performing a plethora of functions, including decisions, memory, toggle, and so forth. Finally, we demonstrate how mutual inhibition maximizes storage capacity for larger networks. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b14b298ce95c485ebbc85a7ca2a7b3cd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj-art-b14b298ce95c485ebbc85a7ca2a7b3cd2025-01-18T05:05:05ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-02-01282111718Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversityBelle Liu0Alexander James White1Chung-Chuan Lo2Institute of Systems Neuroscience, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City 30080, Taiwan; Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City 30080, TaiwanInstitute of Systems Neuroscience, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City 30080, Taiwan; International Intercollegiate Ph.D. Program, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City 30080, Taiwan; Corresponding authorInstitute of Systems Neuroscience, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City 30080, Taiwan; Brain Research Center, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City 30080, Taiwan; Corresponding authorSummary: Recent advances in microcircuit analysis of nervous systems have revealed a plethora of mutual connections between inhibitory interneurons across many different species and brain regions. The abundance of these mutual connections has not been fully explained. Strikingly, we show that neural circuits with mutually inhibitory connections are able to rapidly and flexibly switch between distinct functions. That is, multiple functions coexist for a single set of synaptic weights. Here, we develop a theoretical framework to explain how inhibitory recurrent circuits give rise to this flexibility and show that mutual inhibition doubles the number of cusp bifurcations in small neural circuits. As a concrete example, we study a class of functional motifs we call coupled recurrent inhibitory and recurrent excitatory loops (CRIRELs). These CRIRELs have the advantage of being both multi-functional and controllable, performing a plethora of functions, including decisions, memory, toggle, and so forth. Finally, we demonstrate how mutual inhibition maximizes storage capacity for larger networks.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224029456NeuroscienceTheory of computation |
| spellingShingle | Belle Liu Alexander James White Chung-Chuan Lo Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity iScience Neuroscience Theory of computation |
| title | Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity |
| title_full | Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity |
| title_fullStr | Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity |
| title_short | Augmenting flexibility: mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity |
| title_sort | augmenting flexibility mutual inhibition between inhibitory neurons expands functional diversity |
| topic | Neuroscience Theory of computation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224029456 |
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