Neuronal regulation: A biologically plausible mechanism for efficient synaptic pruning in development

Neuronal regulation is a mechanism that was recently found to maintain the homeostasis of the neuron's membrane potential. We show that the operation of neuronal regulation changes the distribution of synaptic efficacies, pruning the weak synapses and strengthening the rest. Deriving optimal synaptic modification functions, we identify conditions under which neuronal regulation leads to near-optimal modification of synaptic efficacies, with considerable gain in memory performance. These results point to the possible important role of neuronal regulation as a biologically plausible mechanism that governs the fundamental process of synaptic pruning observed in mammalian brain development.