Preliminary Study Of Self-organizednon-random Mono-synaptic Network In Cultured Hippocampal Neurons

The advaned function of brain, like consciousness and emotion, depends on complex neural networks. In vivo study shows that neural networks are not random and exhibit complex network characteristics. The formation mechanism of this complex network is unclear. It may determined by genes, or the input of environmental stimulation. According to graph theory, neurons in the network can be treated as node, and synaptic connections can be seen as the edge between node, so that the index of neural networks can be quantified. Cultured neurons still have the ability to form a non-random complex network without anatomic structure and environmental stimulation. However, the connection pattern is not yet clear. Previous studies of neural network do not make a distinction between excitatory synapse and inhibitory synapse, or just focus on the glutamatergic neural networks, although GABAergic neurons play an inportant role in the formation and development of neural network. Multiple whole cell recordings on the cultured hippocampal neurons, help us understanding the non-random network feature in cultured neural networks which lack the brain anatomical structure and environmental stimulation. We found that, in the cultured neural network, GABAergic synapse have a higher form probility than glutamatergic synapse. Furthermore, reciprocal connections are found over-expresenting in this cultured neural network.