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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 26, 2006, 26(17):4526-4534; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4692-05.2006

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Transport of Information along Unidimensional Layered Networks of Dissociated Hippocampal Neurons and Implications for Rate Coding

Ofer Feinerman and Elisha Moses

Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Correspondence should be addressed to Ofer Feinerman, Department Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzel Street, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Email: ofer.feinerman{at}weizmann.ac.il

The ability of synchronous population activity in layered networks to transmit a rate code is a focus of recent debate. We investigate these issues using a patterned unidimensional hippocampal culture. The network exhibits population bursts that travel its full length, with the advantage that signals propagate along a clearly defined path. The amplitudes of activity are measured using calcium imaging, a good approximate of population rate code, and the distortion of the signal as it travels is analyzed. We demonstrate that propagation along the line is precisely described by information theory as a chain of Gaussian communication channels. The balance of excitatory and inhibitory synapses is crucial for this transmission. However, amplitude information carried along this layered neuronal structure fails within 3 mm, 10 mean axon lengths, and is limited by noise in the synaptic transmission. We conclude that rate codes cannot be reliably transmitted through long layered networks.

Key words: layered network; hippocampal culture; rate coding; Shannon information; Gaussian chain; inhibition; one-dimensional network

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Received Aug. 4, 2005; revised March 14, 2006; accepted March 14, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Ofer Feinerman, Department Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzel Street, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Email: ofer.feinerman{at}weizmann.ac.il

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Jacobi and E. Moses Variability and Corresponding Amplitude-Velocity Relation of Activity Propagating in One-Dimensional Neural Cultures J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2007; 97(5): 3597 - 3606. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				O. Feinerman, M. Segal, and E. Moses Identification and Dynamics of Spontaneous Burst Initiation Zones in Unidimensional Neuronal Cultures J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2007; 97(4): 2937 - 2948. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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