Modular architecture confers robustness to damage and facilitates recovery in spikingneural networks modeling in vitro neurons

Abstract

Impaired brain function is restored following injury through dynamic processes that involve synaptic plasticity. This restoration is supported by the brain’s inherent modular organization, which promotes functional separation and redundancy. However, it remains unclear how modular structure interacts with synaptic plasticity to define damage response and recovery efficiency. In this work, we numerically modeled the response and recovery to damage of a neuronal network in vitro bearing a modular structure. The simulations aimed at capturing experimental observations in cultured neurons with modular traits which were physically disconnected through a focal lesion. The damage reduced the frequency of spontaneous collective activity events in the cultures, which recovered to pre-damage levels within 24 h. We rationalized this recovery in the numerical simulations by considering a plasticity mechanism based on spike-timing-dependent plasticity, a form of synaptic plasticity that modifies synaptic strength based on the relative timing of pre- and postsynaptic spikes. We observed that the in silico numerical model effectively captured the decline and subsequent recovery of spontaneous activity following the injury. The model supports that the combination of modularity and plasticity confers robustness to the damaged neuronal network by preventing the total loss of spontaneous network-wide activity and facilitating recovery. Additionally, by using our model within the reservoir computing framework, we show that information representation in the neuronal network improves with the recovery of network-wide activity.