An energy information trade-off explains hidden structure in the neuronal parameter space

Among neurons of the same type, the different electrophysiological parameters vary drastically. It is presently unclear if there is any hidden structure in this diversity and how it relates to neuronal function. One potential source of structure is the evolutionary pressure that has sculpted brains to work in an energy-efficient manner. Here we show that neurons' parameters do not vary randomly, but that neurons populate a manifold within their parameter space permitting energy-efficient signaling. This manifold represents a Pareto front of degenerate solutions to the problem of energy-efficiency and explains the prevalence of low to intermediate firing rates (2 - 5 Hz) in neocortex. Furthermore, we show that neurons in different sensory brain areas populate different manifolds and that food restriction induces systematic shifts of neuronal parameters along this manifold. Our results suggest that the large diversity of neuronal properties is actually tightly regulated to ensure energy-efficient signaling in different contexts.