ABSTRACT Avalanches with power-law distributed size parameters have been observed in neuronal networks. This observation might be a manifestation of self-organized criticality (SOC). Yet, the physiological mechanisms of this behaviour are currently unknown. Describing synaptic noise as transmission failures mainly originating from the probabilistic nature of neurotransmitter release, this study investigates the potential of this noise as a mechanism for driving the functional architecture of the neuronal networks towards SOC. To this end, a simple finite state neuron model, with activity dependent and synapse specific failure probabilities, was built based on the known anatomical connectivity data of the nematode Ceanorhabditis elegans. Beginning from random values, it was observed that synaptic noise levels picked out a set of synapses and consequently an active subnetwork that generates power-law distributed neuronal avalanches. The findings of this study bring up the possibility that synaptic failures might be a component of physiological processes underlying SOC in neuronal networks.

中文翻译：

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突触噪声促进了秀丽隐杆线虫神经元网络中自组织临界性的出现

摘要 在神经元网络中已经观察到具有幂律分布尺寸参数的雪崩。这种观察可能是自组织临界性 (SOC) 的一种表现。然而，这种行为的生理机制目前尚不清楚。将突触噪声描述为主要源于神经递质释放的概率性质的传输失败，本研究调查了这种噪声作为将神经元网络的功能架构推向 SOC 的机制的潜力。为此，基于线虫 Ceanorhabditis elegans 的已知解剖学连接数据构建了一个简单的有限状态神经元模型，该模型具有活动依赖和突触特定的故障概率。从随机值开始，据观察，突触噪声水平挑选出一组突触，并因此挑选出一个产生幂律分布的神经元雪崩的活动子网络。这项研究的结果提出了突触失败可能是神经元网络中 SOC 生理过程的一个组成部分的可能性。