Modelling thalamocortical circuitry shows visually induced LTP changes laminar connectivity in human visual cortex

Abstract

Neuroplasticity is essential to learning and memory in the brain; it has therefore also been implicated in numerous neurological and psychiatric disorders, making measuring the state of neuroplasticity of foremost importance to clinical neuroscience. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a key mechanism of neuroplasticity and has been studied extensively, and invasively in non-human animals. Translation to human application largely relies on the validation of non-invasive measures of LTP. The current study provides validation for the use of a thalamocortical computational model of visual cortex for investigating and replicating interlaminar connectivity changes using non-invasive EEG recording of humans, and a commonly used visual sensory LTP paradigm. The model demonstrated remarkable accuracy recapitulating post-tetanus changes including increased excitatory connectivity from thalamus to layer IV and from layer IV to II/III. The findings also further validate visual sensory induced LTP and evoked potential modulation for measuring of the state of LTP in cortex.