Developmental depression-to-facilitation shift controls excitation-inhibition balance.

Changes in the short-term dynamics of excitatory synapses over development have been observed throughout cortex, but their purpose and consequences remain unclear. Here, we propose that developmental changes in synaptic dynamics buffer the effect of slow inhibitory long-term plasticity, allowing for continuously stable neural activity. Using computational modeling we demonstrate that early in development excitatory short-term depression quickly stabilises neural activity, even in the face of strong, unbalanced excitation.

Model-Based Inference of Synaptic Transmission.

Synaptic computation is believed to underlie many forms of animal behavior. A correct identification of synaptic transmission properties is thus crucial for a better understanding of how the brain processes information, stores memories and learns. Recently, a number of new statistical methods for inferring synaptic transmission parameters have been introduced.