Young 'cultured mini brain' develops activity peaks while it is still growing
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - 10:31
in Biology & Nature
After a short period of growth, cultured networks of neurons regularly exhibit major activity in the absence of external stimulation. These "bursts" are entirely related to growth. At this stage, they have little to do with learning behavior, as the network is still too young to sustain a process of memory formation. This has now for the first time been simulated for networks ranging in size from 10,000 to 50,000 neurons. The simulations provide insight into the role of the growth process in initial activity.