新皮层表征图的动态平衡，这一成果由美因茨约翰内斯古登堡大学Simon Rumpel小组经过不懈努力而取得。相关论文于2025年6月5日发表于国际顶尖学术期刊《自然—神经科学》杂志上。

在这篇文章中，小组以无主旋律听觉皮层为主题，研究稳态机制如何在神经元丢失后保护声音的表征图。研究组结合双光子钙成像和靶向微消融30-40个2/3层声反应神经元。微消融导致表征图暂时紊乱，但在随后几天内恢复。恢复主要是由神经元驱动的，这些神经元最初对声音没有反应，但后来获得了反应，并加强了网络的相关结构。相比之下，选择性微消融抑制神经元引起长时间的干扰，其特征是不稳定的声音反应。他们的研究结果将个体神经元的调节和可塑性与群体水平表征图的稳定性联系起来，强调了保护新皮层感觉处理的稳态机制。

研究人员表示，皮层功能，包括感觉处理，在衰老和神经变性过程中对神经元损失具有惊人的弹性。

附：英文原文

Title: Homeostasis of a representational map in the neocortex

Author: Noda, Takahiro, Kienle, Eike, Eppler, Jens-Bastian, Aschauer, Dominik F., Kaschube, Matthias, Loewenstein, Yonatan, Rumpel, Simon

Issue&Volume: 2025-06-05

Abstract: Cortical function, including sensory processing, is surprisingly resilient to neuron loss during aging and neurodegeneration. In this Article, we used the mouse auditory cortex to investigate how homeostatic mechanisms protect the representational map of sounds after neuron loss. We combined two-photon calcium imaging with targeted microablation of 30–40 sound-responsive neurons in layer 2/3. Microablation led to a temporary disturbance of the representational map, but it recovered in the following days. Recovery was primarily driven by neurons that were initially unresponsive to sounds but gained responsiveness and strengthened the network’s correlation structure. By contrast, selective microablation of inhibitory neurons caused prolonged disturbance, characterized by destabilized sound responses. Our results link individual neuron tuning and plasticity to the stability of the population-level representational map, highlighting homeostatic mechanisms that safeguard sensory processing in the neocortex.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-01982-7

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-01982-7