Self-organized criticality in cortical assemblies occurs in concurrent scale-free and small-world networks

The spontaneous activity of cortical networks is characterized by the emergence of different dynamic states. Although several attempts were accomplished to understand the origin of these dynamics, the underlying factors continue to be elusive. In this work, we specifically investigated the interplay between network topology and spontaneous dynamics within the framework of self-organized criticality (SOC). The obtained results support the hypothesis that the emergence of critical states occurs in specific complex network topologies. By combining multi-electrode recordings of spontaneous activity of in vitro cortical assemblies with theoretical models, we demonstrate that different ‘connectivity rules’ drive the network towards different dynamic states. In particular, scale-free architectures with different degree of small-worldness account better for the variability observed in experimental data, giving rise to different dynamic states. Moreover, in relationship with the balance between excitation and inhibition and percentage of inhibitory hubs, the simulated cortical networks fall in a critical regime.