An FAU team is revealing how star-shaped glial cells called astrocytes that support and protect neurons also subtly modulate communication between neurons. The team generated artificial brain network data and applied various machine learning models to detect and classify the influence of astrocytes under various conditions.

“We found that the Mean Firing Rate – a common experimental measure – was particularly effective in helping these models detect glial influences, especially when paired with robust algorithms like Feedforward Neural Networks,” says researcher Rodrigo Pena. One key finding is that astrocytes exert the most influence during synchronous brain states, suggesting they not only support but may also fine-tune the dynamics of brain networks.

• Rodrigo Pena