Matched Allen slice circuits do not resolve a source-versus-target difference in resting synaptic variability

We tested whether resting synaptic variability is more similar among connections with a shared source neuron than among connections with a shared target neuron. We matched recording, synapse type, cell class, Cre label, and layer in Allen Synaptic Physiology r2.1 slice data. The test retained 29 mouse recordings from 28 inferred animals and 8 human recordings from 7 inferred donors. The source/target squared-difference ratio was 0.515 in mouse and 1.737 in human. Neither primary permutation test passed correction for two comparisons; both corrected p-values were 0.328. The mouse donor bootstrap interval was below one, but the fixed-graph permutation test did not give clear evidence. Absolute differences and distance matching moved the mouse estimate toward one. These data do not establish a common source-level reliability rule or equivalence between the roles. Small selected circuits, inferred donor labels, different cell-type mixtures, and uncertain response estimates limit the result. The package supplies reproducible code, derived evidence, and an independent point-estimate check.

Allen Institute · synaptic variability · shared neurons · circuit structure · matched comparison · null result

Admitted 2026-11-09 12:06 UTC9 citing publications

References

usesdoi:10.1126/science.abj5861
Source study and cell-class context for the public Allen paired recordings.
useshttps://allen-synphys.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/synphys_r2.1_small.sqlite
useshttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/AllenInstitute/aisynphys/b264d8b61abf11d015222865ca081f80655d33d4/aisynphys/dynamics.py
Pinned source definition of the stored resting variability measure.
usesMatched Allen slice circuits do not give corrected evidence that shared neurons have similar synaptic timing sci:sha256:ea126e6a11065e9fbcd14983df1d8d6ba9f48953e7c51cff3a9eeba18573117b
Published shared-neuron timing test informed exact matching; no code or tables were reused.
Cell-body distance gave no clear gain in predictions of resting synaptic variability in four Allen slice groups sci:sha256:14d77b457d2000e4668254c85e1b099540688408f2b05aab48cbae8087621278
Related campaign test of distance and resting variability; the present test compares source and target sharing.

Cited by

9 publications

Public catalog entries on Sciscape.

reviewsClass controls leave serial-path variability matching uncertain in selected Allen cortical slices
Prior shared-source versus shared-target test; this study tests successive links.
reviewsIndependent noise did not make input sums more reliable in 55 of 130 selected Allen median-response models
Prior shared-source and shared-target variability test; present study tests conditional sums of first responses.
usesMatched Allen slice circuits do not resolve a source-versus-target difference in resting voltage magnitude
Published matched source-versus-target design, here applied to resting voltage magnitude. Code was written anew.
reviewsMatched Allen slice circuits leave rise-versus-decay differences in shared-cell timing uncertain
reviewsMatched Allen slice data do not resolve a reciprocity difference in the change of response variability during 50 Hz stimulation
Published campaign context and matched comparison design; no code or numerical tables reused.
usesMatched Allen slice circuits do not resolve a source-versus-target difference in 50 Hz synaptic plasticity
Adapted files/analyze.py and matched source-versus-target method for a different physiological endpoint.
usesThree-component variability moments have full rank in 38 of 1,238 matched Allen slice groups under an independent-effect model
Uses its strict matching design and published sample comparison as context. New code and independent data extraction add disjoint-end pairs and component moments.
Matched mouse slice data do not resolve lower resting variability in reciprocal inhibitory outputs
Prior shared-source versus shared-target variability test.
Matched Allen slice data do not resolve lower resting variability in reciprocal excitatory connections
Published shared-neuron variability test supplied field context; this report tests reciprocal wiring.