22,953 research outputs found
Neural activity classification with machine learning models trained on interspike interval series data
The flow of information through the brain is reflected by the activity
patterns of neural cells. Indeed, these firing patterns are widely used as
input data to predictive models that relate stimuli and animal behavior to the
activity of a population of neurons. However, relatively little attention was
paid to single neuron spike trains as predictors of cell or network properties
in the brain. In this work, we introduce an approach to neuronal spike train
data mining which enables effective classification and clustering of neuron
types and network activity states based on single-cell spiking patterns. This
approach is centered around applying state-of-the-art time series
classification/clustering methods to sequences of interspike intervals recorded
from single neurons. We demonstrate good performance of these methods in tasks
involving classification of neuron type (e.g. excitatory vs. inhibitory cells)
and/or neural circuit activity state (e.g. awake vs. REM sleep vs. nonREM sleep
states) on an open-access cortical spiking activity dataset
Recursive Training of 2D-3D Convolutional Networks for Neuronal Boundary Detection
Efforts to automate the reconstruction of neural circuits from 3D electron
microscopic (EM) brain images are critical for the field of connectomics. An
important computation for reconstruction is the detection of neuronal
boundaries. Images acquired by serial section EM, a leading 3D EM technique,
are highly anisotropic, with inferior quality along the third dimension. For
such images, the 2D max-pooling convolutional network has set the standard for
performance at boundary detection. Here we achieve a substantial gain in
accuracy through three innovations. Following the trend towards deeper networks
for object recognition, we use a much deeper network than previously employed
for boundary detection. Second, we incorporate 3D as well as 2D filters, to
enable computations that use 3D context. Finally, we adopt a recursively
trained architecture in which a first network generates a preliminary boundary
map that is provided as input along with the original image to a second network
that generates a final boundary map. Backpropagation training is accelerated by
ZNN, a new implementation of 3D convolutional networks that uses multicore CPU
parallelism for speed. Our hybrid 2D-3D architecture could be more generally
applicable to other types of anisotropic 3D images, including video, and our
recursive framework for any image labeling problem
Two-photon imaging and analysis of neural network dynamics
The glow of a starry night sky, the smell of a freshly brewed cup of coffee
or the sound of ocean waves breaking on the beach are representations of the
physical world that have been created by the dynamic interactions of thousands
of neurons in our brains. How the brain mediates perceptions, creates thoughts,
stores memories and initiates actions remains one of the most profound puzzles
in biology, if not all of science. A key to a mechanistic understanding of how
the nervous system works is the ability to analyze the dynamics of neuronal
networks in the living organism in the context of sensory stimulation and
behaviour. Dynamic brain properties have been fairly well characterized on the
microscopic level of individual neurons and on the macroscopic level of whole
brain areas largely with the help of various electrophysiological techniques.
However, our understanding of the mesoscopic level comprising local populations
of hundreds to thousands of neurons (so called 'microcircuits') remains
comparably poor. In large parts, this has been due to the technical
difficulties involved in recording from large networks of neurons with
single-cell spatial resolution and near- millisecond temporal resolution in the
brain of living animals. In recent years, two-photon microscopy has emerged as
a technique which meets many of these requirements and thus has become the
method of choice for the interrogation of local neural circuits. Here, we
review the state-of-research in the field of two-photon imaging of neuronal
populations, covering the topics of microscope technology, suitable fluorescent
indicator dyes, staining techniques, and in particular analysis techniques for
extracting relevant information from the fluorescence data. We expect that
functional analysis of neural networks using two-photon imaging will help to
decipher fundamental operational principles of neural microcircuits.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Reports on Progress
in Physic
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