Neocortical Network Activity In Vivo Is Generated through a Dynamic Balance of Excitation and Inhibition

The recurrent excitatory and inhibitory connections between and within layers of the cerebral cortex are fundamental to the operation of local cortical circuits. Models of cortical function often assume that recurrent excitation and inhibition are balanced, and we recently demonstrated that spontaneous network activity in vitro contains a precise balance of excitation and inhibition; however, the existence of a balance between excitation and inhibition in the intact and spontaneously active cerebral cortex has not been directly tested. We examined this hypothesis in the prefrontal cortex in vivo, during the slow (

• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• KF
  Kavli Foundation
• P
  Pfizer
• NI
  National Institutes of Health