Adaptive robustness through incoherent signaling mechanisms in a regenerative brain.
bioRxiv
; 2023 Jan 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36711454
ABSTRACT
Animal behavior emerges from collective dynamics of interconnected neurons, making it vulnerable to connectome damage. Paradoxically, many organisms maintain significant behavioral output after large-scale neural injury. Molecular underpinnings of this extreme robustness remain largely unknown. Here, we develop a quantitative behavioral analysis pipeline to measure previously uncharacterized long-lasting latent memory states in planarian flatworms during whole-brain regeneration. By combining >20,000 animal trials with neural population dynamic modeling, we show that long-range volumetric peptidergic signals allow the planarian to rapidly reestablish latent states and restore coarse behavior after large structural perturbations to the nervous system, while small-molecule neuromodulators gradually refine the precision. The different time and length scales of neuropeptide and small-molecule transmission generate incoherent patterns of neural activity which competitively regulate behavior and memory. Controlling behavior through opposing communication mechanisms creates a more robust system than either alone and may serve as a generic approach to construct robust neural networks.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
BioRxiv
Year:
2023
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States