Progress was made in the study of simultaneous activation of cell populations in the mouse cortical sphere.

Recently, the Center for Brain Science and Intelligent Technology Excellence and Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Neuroscience Research Institute), Shanghai Brain Science and Brain Research Center, and the Pu Muming Research Group of the National Key Laboratory of Neuroscience simultaneously activated neuron cell groups in different cortical regions of mice using photogenetic technology, and found that the repeated activation of a large number of neuron groups will cause the phenomenon of increased excitability of neurons in the local and whole cerebral cortical layers.
this enhanced effect requires a large number of neurons in the same or different regions of the cerebral cortical layer to be activated together and also depends on the activity of the NMDA receptor.
addition, the cortical-cortical-cortical loop may also contribute to this enhanced effect.
a fundamental feature of the brain is the structural and functional plasticity of activity dependence.
this plasticity is reflected in the fact that recurring sensational stimuli cause adaptive changes in the brain, allowing neurons in the cerebral cortical system to respond more effectively when the same stimuli occur later.
The results highlight the importance of the number of neurons in co-activation inducing increased excitability of neurons in the brain, suggesting that the simultaneous electrical activity of a certain number of cortical nerve cells can affect the entire cerebral cortical layer widely and may provide potential mechanisms for local transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation (tDCS) to effectively affect the function of the entire brain.
the results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are titled "Simultaneous activation of a large number of neuron cell groups causes increased excitability of neurons in the whole cerebral cortical layer."
research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai.
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