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Memory retention in pyramidal neurons: a unified model of energy-based homo and heterosynaptic plasticity with homeostasis

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Abstract

The brain can learn new tasks without forgetting old ones. This memory retention is closely associated with the long-term stability of synaptic strength. To understand the capacity of pyramidal neurons to preserve memory under different tasks, we established a plasticity model based on the postsynaptic membrane energy state, in which the change in synaptic strength depends on the difference between the energy state after stimulation and the resting energy state. If the post-stimulation energy state is higher than the resting energy state, then synaptic depression occurs. On the contrary, the synapse is strengthened. Our model unifies homo- and heterosynaptic plasticity and can reproduce synaptic plasticity observed in multiple experiments, such as spike-timing-dependent plasticity, and cooperative plasticity with few and common parameters. Based on the proposed plasticity model, we conducted a simulation study on how the activation patterns of dendritic branches by different tasks affect the synaptic connection strength of pyramidal neurons. We further investigate the formation mechanism by which different tasks activate different dendritic branches. Simulation results show that compare to the classic plasticity model, the plasticity model we proposed can achieve a better spatial separation of different branches activated by different tasks in pyramidal neurons, which deepens our insight into the memory retention mechanism of brains.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61572529.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The School of Automation, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Huanwen Chen, Yijun Wang & Hang Zhang

  2. The Institute of Physiology and Psychology, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410076, Hunan, China

    Lijuan Xie

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  1. Huanwen Chen
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Chen, H., Xie, L., Wang, Y. et al. Memory retention in pyramidal neurons: a unified model of energy-based homo and heterosynaptic plasticity with homeostasis. Cogn Neurodyn 15, 675–692 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-020-09652-z

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