Review : Robustness and Self-regulation in the Production of Neural Activity by Developing Networks

Abstract

Spontaneous activity is an important regulator of network development throughout the nervous system. Activity produced in different parts of the developing nervous system shares many features, which suggests that it does not depend on the detailed architecture of developing networks but rather on their common properties. Insights into the mechanisms responsible for generating spontaneous activity have come from recent studies of the spinal cord. Developing spinal networks are hyperexcitable and their immature syn apses are subject to activity-dependent synaptic depression. The conjunction of these properties, which may be common throughout the developing nervous system, is responsible for the spontaneous, episodic activity expressed by spinal networks. These properties endow developing spinal networks with an extremely robust mechanism for generating spontaneous activity that is resistant to major pharmacological and surgical per turbations. NEUROSCIENTIST 5:41-47, 1999