Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29456491›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in neuroscience2018

Synaptic E-I Balance Underlies Efficient Neural Coding.

Shanglin Zhou, Yuguo Yu

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
98citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
7.5field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

98 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 187 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Glutamatergic Modulation of Brain Function in Psychosis: A Systematic Review of Neuroimaging Studies.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Cortical control of chandelier cells in neural codes.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2022
    Pooled it
  4. Dynamic Recovery: GABA Agonism Restores Neural Variability in Older, Poorer Performing Adults.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2021
    Trial
  5. Excitation-inhibition imbalance links amyloid pathophysiology to cognition in non-demented individuals.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026
    Article
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  7. Review
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  11. Critical Dynamics in the Association Cortex Predict Higher Intelligence in Typically Developing Children.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
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  14. Review
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38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Shanglin ZhouState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Center for Computational Systems Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Yuguo YuState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Center for Computational Systems Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Fudan University · CNState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Both theoretical and experimental evidence indicate that synaptic excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex are well-balanced during the resting state and sensory processing. Here, we briefly summarize the evidence for how neural circuits are adjusted to achieve this balance. Then, we discuss how such excitatory and inhibitory balance shapes stimulus representation and information propagation, two basic functions of neural coding. We also point out the benefit of adopting such a balance during neural coding. We conclude that excitatory and inhibitory balance may be a fundamental mechanism underlying efficient coding.

Indexed as

energy efficiencyexcitatory-inhibitory balanceinformation propagationsparse codingstimulus representation

Identifiers

PMID29456491
PMCPMC5801300
OpenAlexW2791212118

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.