体外培养神经元网络功能结构的长时间发育变化
摘要
One way to understand brain function is to understand how functional structure of neurons organized during development. The underlying mechanism remains unclear because the network topology was too complex. With multi-electrode array system, the spontaneous activity of cultured hippocampal networks was recorded from 1–18 weeks <italic>in vitro</italic>. We mapped functional networks using cross correlation between pairs of electrodes. Analysis of three cultures indicated self organization and disorganization of cultured networks during long term development. Adjacent neurons in culture began establishing functional connections during 1–3 weeks <italic>in vitro</italic>. Then, more connections emerged and organized as complex networks. Finally, the network topology became more compact when some connections disappeared after 12 weeks. As the distribution of connections followed a power law during development, the cultured networks showed the characteristic of scale-free network. These works could shed new light on both neural coding and organization mechanisms of nervous system.