Experiments on clustered neuronal networks
Sara Teller, Jordi Soriano · AIP conference proceedings · 2013
Neuronal cultures show a rich repertoire of spontaneous activity. However, the mechanisms that relate a particular network architecture with a specific dynamic behavior are still not well understood. In order to investigate the dependence of neuronal network dynamics on architecture we study spontaneous activity in networks formed by interconnected aggregates of neurons (clustered neuronal networks). In the experiments we monitor the spontaneous activity using calcium fluorescence imaging. Network's firing is characterized by bursts of activity, in which the clusters fire sequentially in a short time window, remaining silent until the next bursting episode. We also investigate perturbations on the connectivity of the network. We mainly focus in physical damage. In some cases we observe important changes in the collective activity of the network, while in other cases some dynamic motifs are preserved, hinting at the existence of dynamic robustness.