Methods to manipulate the output of dissociated living neuronal network in vitro by the electrical input

In dissociated neurons, we induced a long lasting modification of synaptic transmission, and found out that functional connections between neurons in the living neuronal network was changed dynamically by a transient increase of electrical activities of the whole neural network. Using electrical inputs in the network, we were able to operate the spatio-temporal patterns autonomously stored in this neural network. The high frequency stimulation (HFS), which is known to trigger long-term potentiation in vivo, was suitable for that manipulation. We tried to make an association of a particular activity pattern with another pattern by simultaneous recall of stored pattern. After HFS, One of the divided subsets of patterns frequently merged to another one suggested that particular cue stimulation linked to two-stored pattern simultaneously. Although these are still preliminary results, they have suggested that it is possible to operate the information processing in a neural network by the external electrical inputs.