Structural and Functional Connectivities of Neuronal Networks

The concept of functional connectivity is introduced from the inference of measured data and is usually described in the statistical sense, e.g., Granger causal connectivity, whereas the structural connectivity corresponds to synaptic connection or fiber pathway and is characterized in the anatomical sense. The relation between these two connectivities in neural systems remains to be clarified. For a general class of conductance-based, integrate-and-fire type neuronal networks, we have established a direct connection between Granger causal connectivity and structural connectivity. (code)

Using spike-triggered correlation techniques, we establish a direct mapping between the Granger causal connectivity and the synaptic connectivity for the conductance-based I&F neuronal networks under various settings, thus leading to a new theoretical framework to reconstruct the anatomical connectivity of neuronal networks. Surprisingly, such reconstruction can even be achieved by merely knowing the raster of systems, i.e., spike timing of neurons.