TY - JOUR T1 - Rapid Homeostatic Plasticity of Intrinsic Excitability in a Central Pattern Generator Network Stabilizes Functional Neural Network Output JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. SP - 9649 LP - 9658 DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1945-12.2012 VL - 32 IS - 28 AU - Joseph L. Ransdell AU - Satish S. Nair AU - David J. Schulz Y1 - 2012/07/11 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/28/9649.abstract N2 - Neurons and networks undergo a process of homeostatic plasticity that stabilizes output by integrating activity levels with network and cellular properties to counter longer-term perturbations. Here we describe a rapid compensatory interaction among a pair of potassium currents, IA and IKCa, that stabilizes both intrinsic excitability and network function in the cardiac ganglion of the crab, Cancer borealis. We determined that mRNA levels in single identified neurons for the channels which encode IA and IKCa are positively correlated, yet the ionic currents themselves are negatively correlated, across a population of motor neurons. We then determined that these currents are functionally coupled; decreasing levels of either current within a neuron causes a rapid increase in the other. This functional interdependence results in homeostatic stabilization of both the individual neuronal and the network output. Furthermore, these compensatory increases are mechanistically independent, suggesting robustness in the maintenance of neural network output that is critical for survival. Together, we generate a complete model for homeostatic plasticity from mRNA to network output where rapid post-translational compensatory mechanisms acting on a reservoir of channels proteins regulated at the level of gene expression provide homeostatic stabilization of both cellular and network activity. ER -