Neocortex saves energy by reducing coding precision during food scarcity: Neuron

How does the metabolically expensive mammalian brain adapt to food scarcity? Padamsey et al. show that under food restriction, mouse visual cortical neurons save ATP by decreasing excitatory currents. Compensatory mechanisms preserve spike rate but decrease coding precision of visual information. Supplementation with the fat mass-regulated hormone leptin restores coding precision.

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• Jordan Marshall