Exact solution for the optimal neuronal layout problem

Chklovskii, D. B. (October 2004) Exact solution for the optimal neuronal layout problem. Neural Comput, 16 (10). pp. 2067-78. ISSN 0899-7667 (Print)

Abstract

Evolution perfected brain design by maximizing its functionality while minimizing costs associated with building and maintaining it. Assumption that brain functionality is specified by neuronal connectivity, implemented by costly biological wiring, leads to the following optimal design problem. For a given neuronal connectivity, find a spatial layout of neurons that minimizes the wiring cost. Unfortunately, this problem is difficult to solve because the number of possible layouts is often astronomically large. We argue that the wiring cost may scale as wire length squared, reducing the optimal layout problem to a constrained minimization of a quadratic form. For biologically plausible constraints, this problem has exact analytical solutions, which give reasonable approximations to actual layouts in the brain. These solutions make the inverse problem of inferring neuronal connectivity from neuronal layout more tractable.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Animals Brain cytology Computer Simulation Humans Models Neurological Nerve Net Neurons physiology
Subjects: organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > organs types and functions > brain
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Chklovskii lab
Depositing User: CSHL Librarian
Date: October 2004
Date Deposited: 09 Feb 2012 16:02
Last Modified: 09 Feb 2012 16:02
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/22349

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