From 9365d4f93738aed01e8fabd122eed9beb0f58fda Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: ocrampal Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 10:53:42 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Update 2026-06-29-tripartite-synapse_v16.md --- .../2026-06-29-tripartite-synapse_v16.md | 1278 ++++++++++++----- 1 file changed, 899 insertions(+), 379 deletions(-) diff --git a/elements/neuron/appunti/2026-06-29-tripartite-synapse_v16.md b/elements/neuron/appunti/2026-06-29-tripartite-synapse_v16.md index c63d856..0d4583a 100644 --- a/elements/neuron/appunti/2026-06-29-tripartite-synapse_v16.md +++ b/elements/neuron/appunti/2026-06-29-tripartite-synapse_v16.md @@ -1,454 +1,974 @@ -# Tripartite Synapse — Biological Reference (companion to v16 pseudocode) +# Tripartite Synapse — Pseudocode v16 -> Companion to `tripartite_synapse_v16_pseudocode.md` · principle: `logic_principles_v3`. -> v16 gives NIGHT a hierarchy of homeostatic actors at scales above the single synapse, and a -> phased structure. The actors of consolidation are not the actors of transmission: by day the -> six local components transmit; by night a hierarchy — astrocyte territory, the whole neuron, -> and (as an external signal) the assembly/network — renormalizes and reallocates. Early-night -> cycles downscale the day's transient changes (synaptic homeostasis); later cycles consolidate -> the survivors. Occupancy filled by day (receptor surface, channel coupling) is returned to -> baseline each night, so only what was written into a structural ceiling persists. +> Companion: `tripartite_synapse_v16_biology.md` · principle: `logic_principles_v3`. +> Changes from v15 — NIGHT gains HIGHER-SCALE ACTORS and a PHASED structure: +> (1) NIGHT is enacted by a hierarchy of homeostatic actors, NOT the DAY components alone: +> COMPONENT (commits own ceilings) → ASTROCYTE territory (reallocates across its synapses) +> → NEURON (renormalizes total weight) → [assembly/network replay: external arrived signal] +> (2) the NEURON and ASTROCYTE-territory actors ACCUMULATE aggregate traces by DAY +> (total weight/activity; territory demand) and ACT by NIGHT (renormalize; reallocate) +> (3) OCCUPANCY is reset each NIGHT: multiplicative-global downscaling drives VGCC_active, +> AMPA_surface, possible_tag back toward baseline — only CEILINGS persist across a night +> (4) NIGHT is PHASED: early cycles DOWNSCALE (subtractive, reset occupancy, make room), +> late cycles COMMIT (additive, build ceilings for the survivors) +> (5) governing rule: what persists across a night must have EARNED persistence — +> occupancy that earned no tag returns to baseline; the system acts locally, consolidates +> hierarchically +> Carried: cyclic NIGHT, tag-as-fuel, emergent termination, DAY-up/NIGHT-down, seven-group grammar. --- -## The three synaptic components and their support structures +## Functional groups (seven-group grammar) -A SYNAPSE is composed of three first-class components: -- **PRE** — presynaptic bouton (the axon's terminal at this synapse) -- **POST** — postsynaptic spine (the dendrite's terminal at this synapse) -- **ASTRO** — astrosynapse, the perisynaptic astrocytic process (the astrocyte's terminal) +``` +RECEIVE take in resources + signals that arrived from outside (boundary: in) +TRACE maintain the trace hierarchy — deposit fast trace; accumulate + possible_tag + endurance_need; stabilize tag on coincidence +ADJUST compute local operating parameters from structure + traces + modulators +BEHAVE the component's defining action, within both ceilings +EMIT send out — signals (messages) + resources (shipments) (boundary: out) +RECOVER refill own private pools consumed by behaving +DECAY let traces recede, closing their windows +``` -Each has an upstream support structure that supplies it: -- **AXON** supplies PRE (transmission + transport from soma) -- **DEND** supplies POST (integration + transport from soma) -- the **astrocyte cell body** supplies ASTRO (energy + ECM material) -- **SOMA** is the integrating center and the root of neuronal material +EVALUATE merged into TRACE: judging a behavior is always maintaining a trace, whether or not +a trace is written. BEHAVE and EMIT stay separate — EMIT is the output half of the locality +interface (RECEIVE/EMIT are the only boundary crossings). TRACE spans all timescales: the +soma's inactivation, adaptation, and nuclear-Ca deposits are all TRACE. Order within a context +follows data dependencies; TRACE reads/writes whatever trace state is current. -The compartment analogy: AXON:PRE = DEND:POST = astrocyte-body:ASTRO = supply line : terminal. +EVERY FLOW HAS A TIMESCALE. Decay relaxes toward 0 over τ; creation/arrival relaxes toward a +target over τ — the same first-order operator. Within-step writes are the special case τ ≪ Δt. +Rate-limited inflows (fill/refill/flux·Δt) carry their τ implicitly; shipment carries an +explicit transit delay (see `transit`). + +THE GROUPS MOVE BETWEEN TIERS (the ladder; see logic_principles "The Timescale Ladder"). +Four tiers: FAST (ms–s) · MEDIUM (s–min) · SLOW (hr) · PERSISTENT (NIGHT-written). The groups +move evidence UP the ladder and read capacity DOWN it: + +``` + ADJUST reads PERSISTENT ceiling + FAST trace → sets this step's operating point (down) + BEHAVE acts at FAST, bounded by the PERSISTENT ceiling (down) + TRACE deposits FAST, accumulates FAST→MEDIUM evidence, stabilizes MEDIUM→SLOW tag (up) + RECOVER refills toward the PERSISTENT ceiling (down) + DECAY relaxes FAST · MEDIUM · SLOW (PERSISTENT never decays in DAY) + NIGHT commits SLOW tag + MEDIUM endurance_need → PERSISTENT ceilings (up) +``` + +Capacity flows downward (slow sets the ceiling for fast); evidence flows upward (fast +accumulates toward slow). Each component's DECAY group below is banded by tier to show this. + +NIGHT IS THE SAME GRAMMAR, ITERATED, WITH THE FLOW REVERSED. NIGHT is not a separate section — +each component carries a `NIGHT |` block, and a driver loops all blocks for cycle = 1,2,3… +until the night ends. DAY runs bottom-up (consumers act first, evidence ascends leaves→roots); +NIGHT runs top-down (producers act first, capacity descends roots→leaves). Per cycle, each +component: + +``` + RECEIVE take in the material + energy batch that arrived from my producer this cycle + TRACE read my own tag / endurance_need (the standing demand) + ADJUST size this cycle's commit from material + energy actually on hand + BEHAVE commit a BATCH: structure += Δ (from tag) ; budget_ceiling += Δ' (from need) + spend material + energy ; SPEND the tag/need by the committed amount (tag-as-fuel) + EMIT ship a batch of material + energy one hop down to my consumers (demand-weighted) + RECOVER reclaim material from any ceiling that decayed this cycle (energy is NOT recovered) + DECAY unmaintained ceilings drift down a little; tags decay a little +``` + +Roots (SOMA, ASTRO cell body) PRODUCE the batch each cycle (RECEIVE = production, capped by +glucose / CREB). The night ends when DEMAND is exhausted (no tag stands above tag_expiry, +system-wide) OR SUPPLY is spent (the night's energy throughput is used up) — whichever first. +Unspent tags are NOT cleared; they carry to the next DAY and compete again next NIGHT. The +top-down order needs no schedule: iterating the local cycle delivers capacity to distal sites +over successive cycles, as transport physically does. + +NIGHT'S ACTORS ARE NOT DAY'S ACTORS — THE SYSTEM ACTS LOCALLY, CONSOLIDATES HIERARCHICALLY. +DAY is enacted by the six local components. NIGHT is enacted by a HIERARCHY of homeostatic +actors, each conserving a quantity at its own scale and constraining the scale below: + +``` + [ ASSEMBLY / NETWORK ] replay re-presents the day across neurons (EXTERNAL signal) + ↓ constrains → arrives as replay_reweight[·] (like dopamine/glucose: external) + NEURON (the whole cell) conserves TOTAL synaptic weight; renormalizes so no synapse + ↓ constrains grows beyond the cell's global budget; drives occupancy downscaling + ASTROCYTE territory conserves total metabolic output; reallocates energy/material + ↓ constrains across ALL synapses it wraps, by accumulated territory demand + COMPONENT commits its own ceilings within the allocation handed down +``` + +These higher actors are DORMANT-BUT-ACCUMULATING by DAY and ACTIVE-AND-CONSTRAINING by NIGHT. +By DAY they only integrate an aggregate trace of the components' emitted activity (they sum +what was emitted, never read a component's interior — locality holds): the NEURON accumulates +`neuron_total_weight` and `neuron_activity`; the ASTROCYTE territory accumulates +`astro_territory_demand[·]`. By NIGHT they act on those aggregates: the astrocyte reallocates, +the neuron renormalizes. The assembly/network tier is not modelled here; its effect enters as +an external arrived signal `replay_reweight`, exactly as dopamine and glucose do. + +NIGHT IS PHASED. Early cycles DOWNSCALE (subtractive): occupancy filled during the day — +VGCC_active, AMPA_surface, possible_tag — is driven back toward baseline by multiplicative-global +scaling, and total weight is renormalized. Late cycles COMMIT (additive): the survivors' tags +build ceilings. The rule the phasing enforces: WHAT PERSISTS ACROSS A NIGHT MUST HAVE EARNED +PERSISTENCE. Occupancy that earned no tag returns to baseline; only ceilings carry forward. The +relative potentiation of a tagged synapse survives because it was written into its ceiling, not +because its transient occupancy was spared. --- -## Resource variables +## Conventions -### DAY budget (one per component) -Aggregates fast energy AND fast consumables — everything needed to run moment-to-moment. +``` +SCOPE = {DAY, NIGHT} CONTEXT = {AP, NOT_AP, bAP, NOT_bAP, CONTINUOUS} -- **pre_budget** — ATP for VGCC gating, vesicle fusion (SNARE), VATPase vesicle refill, - plus fast consumables: vesicle membrane lipids, synaptotagmin recycling. -- **post_budget** — ATP for the NaK pump (membrane reset after current), NMDA current - handling, plus fast actin monomers for transient spine changes and receptor-recycling lipids. -- **dend_budget** — ATP for bAP propagation (NaK reset along branch), local translation - (ribosome running cost), SERCA Ca²⁺ resequestration, plus fast mRNA consumed by translation. -- **soma_budget** — ATP for AP generation (Na⁺/K⁺ currents + NaK reset), CREB - phosphorylation, nuclear Ca²⁺ handling, plus shipping running costs. -- **axon_budget** — ATP for AP propagation at nodes of Ranvier, kinesin/dynein motor - running cost, fast myelin maintenance. -- **astro_central_budget** — ATP from glycolysis at the astrocyte cell body; funds EAAT - clearance, serine→D-serine synthesis, lactate export, fast process motility. +VARIABLE TIERS (timescale = meaning; see logic_principles "The Timescale Ladder") + FAST (ms–s) immediate response fast_trace + MEDIUM (s–min) occupancy + evidence possible_tag · endurance_need · VGCC_active · AMPA_surface · RRP + SLOW (hr) consolidation bridge tag + ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + PERSISTENT (NIGHT) capacity (the ceilings) structure · budget_ceiling + energy (not recoverable) · material (recoverable) -### astro_lactate[i] -Lactate exported from the astrocyte cell body to synapse i. Biologically: glucose → -(glycolysis) → lactate, released into extracellular space, absorbed by neuronal MCT2 -transporters, converted to pyruvate → TCA → ATP in the neuron's mitochondria. The astrocyte -is the primary fast-energy supplier to pre, post, and dend. +DAY budget · fast_trace · possible_tag · endurance_need +BRIDGE tag (POST: CANDIDATE→STABLE) +NIGHT energy (not recoverable) · material (recoverable) · structure · budget_ceiling -### NIGHT energy (one per component) — NOT recoverable -ATP for structural assembly. Distinct from DAY budget because it is spent on building, and -the work of assembly is thermodynamically gone once done (cannot be recovered by disassembly). -- pre_energy: RIM/Munc13 incorporation, VGCC clustering. -- post_energy: CaMKII anchoring, actin polymerization, PSD scaffold remodeling. -- dend_energy: mitochondria incorporation, cytoskeletal reinforcement. -- soma_energy: ribosome biogenesis, ion-channel incorporation. -- axon_energy: myelination, microtubule stabilization. -- astro_energy: process retraction, ECM secretion, racemase upregulation. +LOCALITY only local state + arrived signals; no component reads another's internal state. -### NIGHT material (one per component) — RECOVERABLE -Slow structural proteins. Recoverable because disassembly (LTD) returns the proteins to a -reusable pool (ubiquitin-proteasome → amino acids; internalized receptors → endosomal reserve). -- **soma_material** (root) — all neuronal structural proteins from CREB-driven synthesis: - AMPA subunits, PSD scaffold, AZ scaffold, mRNA transcripts (Arc, BDNF), organelles. -- **dend_material** — from soma: Arc/plasticity mRNA, mitochondria, cytoskeletal proteins, - AMPA subunits in transit to spines. -- **post_material** — from dend: AMPA receptor subunits (GluA1/2), PSD scaffold (PSD-95, - SHANK, Homer), structural actin, CaMKII. -- **axon_material** — from soma: kinesin/dynein motors, microtubule components, myelin proteins. -- **pre_material** — from axon: RIM, Munc13, VGCC subunits, structural vesicle proteins. -- **astro_material** (root: astrocyte cell body) — EAAT proteins, serine racemase, ECM - proteins (Glypicans, Thrombospondins), process cytoskeleton. - -**Why energy and material are separate in NIGHT but combined in DAY:** during DAY both are -fast consumables replenished on the same timescale, so one `budget` variable suffices. During -NIGHT they diverge — material is recoverable after LTD, energy is not — so they must be two -variables. This asymmetry (material returns to the pool, energy is gone) is what makes one -synapse's depression genuinely fund another's potentiation. +CLEFT MESSAGE CHANNELS SHIPMENT CHANNELS (transit-delayed) + glutamate PRE → POST, ASTRO soma_ship_dend SOMA→DEND + astro_Dserine ASTRO → POST soma_ship_axon SOMA→AXON + retro_NO POST → PRE (+) dend_ship_post DEND→POST + retro_eCB POST → PRE (−) axon_ship_pre AXON→PRE +``` --- -## Structural variables (strength ceilings — written in NIGHT) +## Primitives (return the increment; caller applies it) -Each aggregates several correlated structural properties into one capacity. +``` +sat(x, K) = x / (K + x) -- **pre_structure** — active zone capacity: - slot_ceiling (number of vesicle docking slots) + VGCC_coupling (Ca²⁺-channel proximity to - slots, sets release efficiency) + refill_ceiling (max RRP replenishment rate). -- **post_structure** — spine sensitivity capacity: - slot_ceiling (number of PSD anchoring slots for AMPA) + spine_volume (local reserve and - actin machinery) + reserve_ceiling (endosomal AMPA pool size). -- **dend_structure** — branch capacity: - bAP_fidelity(position) (mitochondrial density sets propagation strength, attenuates with - distance) + translation_ceiling (local mRNA capacity) + transport_speed (cytoskeletal integrity). -- **soma_structure** — somatic output capacity: - baseline_threshold (inverse: ion-channel density at axon initial segment) + AP_reliability - (Na⁺ channel density) + synthesis_ceiling (ribosome density + CREB machinery). -- **axon_structure** — axonal capacity: - propagation reliability (myelination density) + transport_ceiling (motor density + microtubule - integrity) + mitochondrial density. -- **astro_structure** — astrosynaptic environmental capacity: - perisynaptic_distance⁻¹ (wall proximity — closer = more glutamate contained) + EAAT_density - (clearance ceiling) + Dserine_tonic (baseline co-agonist) + ECM_integrity. - **Self-reinforcing both directions:** tighter wrap + more tonic D-serine make future - potentiation easier; looser wrap + zero tonic D-serine make future depression easier. +fill(pool, ceiling, rate, cost, budget) -> amount: // PRIVATE reserve, rate-limited (implicit τ) + amount = min(rate, ceiling - pool)·Δt; budget -= amount·cost; return amount + +refill(c from supply S) -> amount: // CONTESTED supply, gap-bounded + demand = c.budget_ceiling - c.budget + factor = min(1, S / (Σ demand over components on S + ε)); S -= demand·factor + return demand·factor + +ship(from_budget, demand_sig, frac, cost) -> amount: // emit into transit (not to target directly) + amount = min(from_budget·frac, demand_sig); from_budget -= amount·(1+ship_cost); return amount + +transit(channel, τ_transport) -> arrival: // delivers in-transit cargo over τ + arrival = channel·(Δt/τ_transport); channel -= arrival; return arrival +``` --- -## Budget ceilings (endurance ceilings — written in NIGHT) +## SHARED parameters -- **{component}_budget_ceiling** — the maximum fuel the component can hold / the maximum - duration of sustained behavior. Biologically: mitochondrial density and local fuel-storage - capacity. Built by activity-driven mitochondrial biogenesis; lost by mitophagy when idle. - Parallel to structure: structure is strength capacity, budget_ceiling is endurance capacity. +``` +dopamine NE ACh // organism broadcasts (external) +replay_reweight[·] // assembly/network replay re-weighting (external, NIGHT) +glucose geometry // physical (external) +elig dop_thr tag_thr tag_expiry // strength gates (universal) +traj_thr endur_thr // endurance gates (universal) +ship_cost // transport overhead (all shipments) +{dend,axon,pre,post}_ship_frac // DAY budget-shipment fractions +τ_transport_{dend,axon,spine,bouton} // shipment transit times (distance-dependent) +ε +``` + +## NIGHT parameters (consolidation only) + +``` +slot_batch cap_batch f_cap // per-CYCLE commit sizes / endurance fraction +night_energy_ceiling // total energy a single night can spend (supply bound) +Δt_cycle // duration of one NIGHT cycle +maint_frac cap_frac // maintenance allocation +decay_rate capacity_decay_rate recycle // passive ceiling decay + material recovery +homeostatic_ceiling coherence_factor assembly_cost biogenesis_cost maint_cost +f_dend f_axon f_spine f_bouton // per-cycle material/energy ship fractions (down the chain) +downscale_factor // per-early-cycle multiplicative occupancy reset (<1) +neuron_weight_ceiling // the cell's total-weight budget (renormalization target) +early_phase_frac // fraction of night cycles that are DOWNSCALE phase +``` + +--- +--- +# DAY +--- + +## PRE + +The presynaptic bouton releases neurotransmitter and gathers evidence about whether that +release was worth strengthening and worth sustaining. Its behavior unfolds across two DAY +contexts and the NIGHT scope. + +**During DAY, during AP — the bouton releases neurotransmitter.** The amount released depends on +residual **calcium** from recent spikes (the fast trace, setting the drive), the current +**VGCC coupling occupancy** (how tightly calcium channels are coupled to docking slots right +now — filled short-term, bounded by structure), the two **retrograde messages** from the +postsynapse (`retro_eCB` brakes the drive; `retro_NO` will confirm release reached a responsive +target), and the availability of both **fuel and vesicles**. Two shortfalls are read +differently: a fuel shortfall on a succeeding release is evidence the bouton needs more +*endurance*; an empty pool with fuel to spare is ordinary short-term depression. + +**During DAY, during NOT_AP — the bouton consolidates, potentiates short-term, and recovers.** +With no spike to release, it latches the retrograde messages (RECEIVE); maintains its traces — +accumulating eligibility toward a dopamine-gated tag (TRACE); transiently tightens its VGCC +coupling from accumulated eligibility, with no dopamine, a reversible short-term potentiation +bounded by the structural ceiling (BEHAVE); refills both its budget (contested supply) and its +vesicle pool (private reserve) (RECOVER); and lets its traces decay, closing the windows (DECAY). + +**During NIGHT — the bouton's ceilings are rewritten.** NIGHT raises the bouton's **structure** +(active-zone capacity, including the VGCC-coupling ceiling) where a validated tag accumulated, +and its **budget capacity** (mitochondrial endurance) where fuel repeatedly interrupted a +succeeding release. Both draw on the same finite material and energy shipped down the axon, so +the two kinds of growth compete — and whatever is not maintained drifts back down. + +``` +// PARAMETERS K_release · release_cost · fusion_cost · vatpase_cost · spillover · brake +// stp_thr · coupling_gain · coupling_drift · VGCC_baseline +// INTERFACE +// EMIT glutamate → POST, ASTRO +// RECEIVE retro_NO, retro_eCB ← POST (signals latched; resources refill in RECOVER) +// READ glutamate (own cleft, autobrake) ; dopamine (gates tag) +// OWN pre_structure{slot_ceiling, VGCC_coupling, refill_ceiling} ; pre_budget_ceiling +// VGCC_active (occupancy: current coupling, filled toward VGCC_coupling ceiling) +// SUPPLY astro_lactate[syn] ← ASTRO ; axon_ship_pre ← AXON ; pre_material ← AXON(NIGHT) ; pre_energy ← SOMA(NIGHT) +// EMERGENCY shockwave_lockdown ← ASTRO +// +// TRACE CREATION MODES (every trace: trace += input·Δt − trace·(Δt/τ_decay)) +// impulse input = quantum·δ(event) — a point event; no rise time, τ = decay only (FAST) +// accumulate input = rate(condition)·Δt — ramps while a condition holds; τ = rise AND decay (MEDIUM/SLOW) +// A trace's tier is set by BOTH its creation mode and its decay: the fast trace is impulse-created +// and fast-decaying; possible_tag/endurance_need are slowly accumulated and medium-decaying. + +DAY | AP: + // TRACE FAST · impulse (Ca²⁺ bolus from THIS spike — a point event; no rise time, + // decay alone sets its τ; frequency is emergent from impulse-rate vs decay) + pre_fast_trace += spike_Ca(pre_structure.VGCC_coupling)·δ(spike) + // ADJUST (release drive from residual Ca²⁺ × current coupling occupancy, + DSE brake) + drive = sat(pre_fast_trace × VGCC_active, K_release) × (1 - retro_eCB_local) + // BEHAVE (release; two distinct failure modes) + if pre_budget < release_cost: + // FUEL shortfall → endurance evidence (retro_NO-confirmed local success) + suppress(NT_flux) + // TRACE MEDIUM · accumulate (ramps while fuel keeps interrupting a succeeding release) + if pre_fast_trace > traj_thr: + pre_endurance_need += pre_fast_trace × (1 + retro_NO_local)·Δt + exit + if RRP == 0: + // OCCUPANCY shortfall → short-term depression (NOT endurance; fuel was fine) + suppress(NT_flux) + exit + NT_flux = RRP × drive; RRP -= NT_flux·Δt; pre_budget -= NT_flux·fusion_cost + // EMIT (glutamate into cleft) + glutamate += NT_flux·Δt + if glutamate > spillover: drive *= brake // own-cleft autobrake + +DAY | NOT_AP: + // RECEIVE (latch backward messages — signals only) + retro_NO_local = retro_NO; retro_eCB_local = retro_eCB + // TRACE (strength pathway — evidence climbs the ladder) + // MEDIUM · accumulate (ramps while fast_trace stays eligible; rise-rate is its τ_rise) + if pre_fast_trace > elig: pre_possible_tag += pre_fast_trace·Δt + // SLOW · accumulate (ramps only on dopamine coincidence; rise gated by validation) + if dopamine > dop_thr and pre_possible_tag > tag_thr: + pre_tag += dopamine × pre_possible_tag·Δt + // BEHAVE (short-term potentiation: eligibility tightens coupling, NO dopamine; drifts back) + if pre_possible_tag > stp_thr: + VGCC_active = min(VGCC_active + coupling_gain × pre_possible_tag, pre_structure.VGCC_coupling) + else: + VGCC_active = max(VGCC_active - coupling_drift·Δt, VGCC_baseline) // STD = consequence + // RECOVER (refill BOTH pools: contested budget + private RRP) + pre_budget += refill(pre from astro_lactate[syn] + transit(axon_ship_pre, τ_transport_bouton)) + RRP += fill(RRP, pre_structure.slot_ceiling, pre_structure.refill_ceiling, vatpase_cost, pre_budget) + // DECAY + // FAST (ms–s) + pre_fast_trace *= decay(100ms) + // MEDIUM (s–min) + pre_possible_tag *= decay(s); pre_endurance_need *= decay(min) + // SLOW (hr) + pre_tag *= decay(hr) + // (signals) arrived channels fade + dopamine *= decay(ms); retro_NO *= decay(s); retro_eCB *= decay(s) + // (PERSISTENT: pre_structure, pre_budget_ceiling — no DAY decay; NIGHT only) + +NIGHT | cycle: // leaf consumer (no downstream emit) + // RECEIVE batch arrived from AXON (material) + SOMA (energy) this cycle + pre_material += transit(pre_material_ship, τ_transport_bouton) + pre_energy += transit(pre_energy_ship, τ_transport_bouton) + // TRACE read standing demand + // (pre_tag → structure ; pre_endurance_need → budget_ceiling) + // ADJUST size commits from material + energy on hand + coh = coherence_signal // arrived: pre+post+astro tags aligned + // BEHAVE commit batches; spend tag/need as fuel + if pre_tag > tag_expiry: + Δ = min(slot_batch, pre_material, pre_energy·f_cap) + pre_structure += Δ × coh; pre_material -= Δ; pre_energy -= Δ·assembly_cost + pre_tag -= Δ // tag-as-fuel + if pre_endurance_need > endur_thr: + Δ' = min(cap_batch, pre_material·f_cap, pre_energy·f_cap) + pre_budget_ceiling += Δ'; pre_material -= Δ'; pre_energy -= Δ'·biogenesis_cost + pre_endurance_need -= Δ' + // EMIT (none — bouton is a leaf; nothing downstream) + // RECOVER reclaim material from any ceiling that decayed this cycle + pre_material += pre_ceiling_shrinkage·recycle // energy NOT recovered + // DECAY unmaintained ceilings + tags drift down a little + pre_structure -= decay_rate·Δt_cycle; pre_budget_ceiling -= capacity_decay_rate·Δt_cycle + pre_structure += min(pre_maint, maint_cost); pre_budget_ceiling += min(pre_cap_maint, cap_cost) + pre_tag *= decay(slow); pre_endurance_need *= decay(slow) +``` --- -## Trace variables +## POST -### fast_trace (one per component) — DAY only, decays automatically -The local record of recent activity that biases the next behavior. -- **pre_fast_trace** — residual presynaptic Ca²⁺ after spikes (τ≈100ms). Biases NT release - (facilitation) and provides tagging eligibility. -- **post_fast_trace** — spine Ca²⁺ amplitude × rise-speed (τ≈tens ms). Encodes the LTP-vs-LTD - instruction (fast rise → CaMKII → potentiation; slow rise → phosphatase → depression). -- **dend_fast_trace** — branch Ca²⁺ from bAP + spine spillover (τ≈300ms). Integrates branch co-activity. -- **soma_fast_trace** — nuclear Ca²⁺ from each AP (τ≈seconds). Drives toward CREB activation. -- **axon_fast_trace** — propagation load (τ≈seconds). High load → Na⁺ inactivation at branch - points → propagation failure (this is axonal short-term depression). -- **astro_fast_trace** — perisynaptic Ca²⁺ from mGluR5 activation by glutamate spillover - (τ≈seconds). Drives D-serine release. +The postsynaptic spine is the synapse's primary memory locus: it detects coincident input, +runs the calcium dynamics that decide potentiation versus depression, and requires the most +validation (three coincidences) before committing. Its behavior unfolds across two DAY +contexts and the NIGHT scope. -### soma timing traces (emergent refractory + adaptation + alignment) -- **soma_Na_inactivation** (τ≈ms) — sodium-channel inactivation after an AP. Its recovery IS - the refractory period (emergent, not a hardcoded timer). High → absolute refractory; decaying - → relative refractory; recovered → normal. -- **soma_adaptation** (τ≈100s of ms) — slow K⁺ channel (SK/M-type) activation accumulating - over a spike train, raising threshold. This is spike-frequency adaptation. -- **soma_refractory_alignment** — deposited when a suprathreshold input arrives during - refractoriness (a missed coincidence). Speeds future recovery so the soma aligns to its input - rhythm. Bottom-up: no rhythm is represented; alignment emerges from accumulated local - mismatches and decays when mismatches stop (self-limiting). +**During DAY, during NOT_bAP — the spine integrates input and decides plasticity.** Three +calcium sources feed its fast trace: AMPA current (small Ca, begins ejecting the NMDA Mg block), +NMDA (large Ca, but only on the local coincidence of depolarization + astrocyte D-serine + +glutamate), and — in the bAP context — the back-propagating spike. High calcium drives AMPA +receptors to the surface (short-term potentiation, occupancy filled toward the slot ceiling, no +dopamine); when calcium falls, they drift back (short-term depression as a consequence). The +spine also emits two retrograde messages from its own state — NO when it responded, an +endocannabinoid brake when over-driven — and accumulates a dopamine-gated tag toward +consolidation. A fuel shortfall while calcium was climbing toward a tag is endurance evidence; +a surface already at its ceiling is a structural limit, not endurance. -### possible_tag (one per component) — intermediate, τ≈s–min -Graded accumulation of tagging eligibility. For POST, this is the CANDIDATE tag lifetime. +**During DAY, during bAP — the back-propagating spike confirms coincidence.** The somatic spike +arrives at the spine, adds depolarization and calcium, and supralinearly amplifies an existing +candidate — the soma's confirmation that it fired, one of the three coincidences the spine +requires. -### endurance_need (one per component) — intermediate, τ≈s–min -Deposited when budget depletion interrupts a behavior that was on a LOCALLY successful -trajectory. Records that fuel — not structure, not significance — was the binding constraint -on a forming success. Requires NO dopamine (homeostatic, not associative). -**Local success proxy per component** (each uses only its own state + arrived signals): -- PRE: own fast_trace high (was releasing strongly), optionally amplified by retrograde - messenger (endocannabinoid / NO / BDNF) that has arrived. -- POST: own Ca²⁺ climbing toward tagging threshold (naturally local). -- DEND: own branch strongly active (high branch voltage/Ca²⁺) when propagation fell short. -- SOMA: own nuclear Ca²⁺ climbing toward CREB. -- AXON: own propagation load high (was carrying a strong train). -- ASTRO: own local glutamate/Ca²⁺ high (was under heavy clearance/D-serine demand). +**During NIGHT — the spine's ceilings are rewritten.** NIGHT raises **structure** (the AMPA +slot ceiling, spine volume) where a validated tag accumulated — with a coherence bonus when pre, +post, and astro all tagged the same synapse — and **budget capacity** where fuel interrupted a +climbing calcium trajectory. Both draw the same finite pool, so they compete; unmaintained +ceilings drift down. -### tag (one per component) — DAY→NIGHT bridge, τ≈hours -The validated record of significance that survives to NIGHT and gates strength commits. -Formed by coincidence of local eligibility + non-local validation (dopamine). -**POST is special — two-phase, three coincidences:** -- CANDIDATE: local Ca²⁺ above threshold + astrosynapse D-serine present (coincidence 1). -- amplified when bAP confirms soma fired (coincidence 2). -- STABLE: CANDIDATE + dopamine within stabilization window (coincidence 3). -Biologically: early CaMKII creates a labile tag (early-LTP); PKA driven by dopamine via D1R -stabilizes it (late-LTP). Without dopamine, the candidate degrades — early-LTP reverses. +``` +// PARAMETERS K_AMPA · AMPA_Ca · AMPA_cost · NMDA_cost · bAP_cost · pka_cost · traffic_cost +// req_cost · Mg_eject · Dserine_thr · Ca_STP · Ca_TAG · eCB_thr · drift · baseline +// NO_synth_cost · eCB_synth_cost +// INTERFACE +// EMIT retro_NO (+), retro_eCB (−) → PRE +// RECEIVE (signals) glutamate ← PRE ; astro_Dserine ← ASTRO ; bAP ← DEND/SOMA ; dopamine +// READ glutamate ; astro_Dserine ; bAP (dend_structure.bAP_fidelity) ; dopamine +// OWN post_structure{slot_ceiling, spine_volume, reserve_ceiling} ; post_budget_ceiling +// SUPPLY astro_lactate[syn] ← ASTRO ; dend_ship_post ← DEND ; post_material ← DEND(NIGHT) ; post_energy ← SOMA(NIGHT) +// EMERGENCY shockwave_lockdown ← ASTRO +// NOTE POST endurance is own-state only (own Ca climbing); no arrived feedback term. + +DAY | NOT_bAP: + // ADJUST (AMPA drive from arrived glutamate) + a = sat(glutamate, K_AMPA) + // BEHAVE (SOURCE 1 AMPA: current + small Ca + begins Mg ejection) + AMPA_current = a × AMPA_surface; Vm += AMPA_current; post_budget -= AMPA_cost + // TRACE (Ca deposited by AMPA) + post_fast_trace += AMPA_Ca·AMPA_current + // BEHAVE (SOURCE 2 NMDA: large Ca on local coincidence) + if Vm > Mg_eject and astro_Dserine > Dserine_thr and glutamate > 0: + post_fast_trace += NMDA_Ca(glutamate)·rise_speed(); post_budget -= NMDA_cost + // EMIT (+ NO/BDNF: "release reached a responsive target") + retro_NO += NO_emit(post_fast_trace); post_budget -= NO_synth_cost + // EMIT (− endocannabinoid / DSE when over-driven) + if Vm > eCB_thr: + retro_eCB += eCB_emit(Vm); post_budget -= eCB_synth_cost + post_fast_trace *= decay(ms) + // BEHAVE (STP fill slots from private reserve ; else STD drift = consequence) + if post_fast_trace > Ca_STP: + if post_budget < traffic_cost: + // FUEL shortfall → endurance (own Ca was climbing toward a tag) + if post_fast_trace > traj_thr and post_fast_trace_rising: + post_endurance_need += post_fast_trace + else if AMPA_surface < post_structure.slot_ceiling: + AMPA_surface += Ca_insert(post_fast_trace); post_budget -= traffic_cost + // else: surface already at slot_ceiling → structure-limited (not endurance) + else: + AMPA_surface = max(AMPA_surface - drift·Δt, baseline) // STD = consequence + // TRACE (strength: CANDIDATE then STABLE via dopamine) + if post_fast_trace > Ca_TAG: post_possible_tag += post_fast_trace; post_budget -= pka_cost + if dopamine > dop_thr and post_possible_tag > tag_thr: + post_tag += dopamine × post_possible_tag + // RECOVER (refill budget from contested supply) + post_budget += refill(post from astro_lactate[syn] + transit(dend_ship_post, τ_transport_spine)) + // DECAY + // FAST (ms–s) — post_fast_trace already decayed above (intra-step, pre-tagging) + // MEDIUM (s–min) + post_possible_tag *= decay(min); post_endurance_need *= decay(min) + // SLOW (hr) + post_tag *= decay(hr) + // (signals) + dopamine *= decay(ms) + // (PERSISTENT: post_structure, post_budget_ceiling — no DAY decay; NIGHT only) + +DAY | bAP: + // BEHAVE (SOURCE 3 bAP: depolarization + Ca, amplifies existing signal) + Vm += bAP_depol × dend_structure.bAP_fidelity; post_budget -= bAP_cost + // TRACE (supralinear boost only if a CANDIDATE is present) + if post_possible_tag > Ca_TAG: post_fast_trace += bAP_Ca_boost() + +NIGHT | cycle: // leaf consumer (no downstream emit) + // RECEIVE batch arrived from DEND (material) + SOMA (energy) this cycle + post_material += transit(post_material_ship, τ_transport_spine) + post_energy += transit(post_energy_ship, τ_transport_spine) + // TRACE read standing demand (post_tag → structure ; post_endurance_need → budget_ceiling) + // ADJUST coherence applies to POST (synaptic component) + coh = coherence_signal + // BEHAVE commit batches; spend tag/need as fuel + if post_tag > tag_expiry: + Δ = min(slot_batch, post_material, post_energy·f_cap) + post_structure += Δ × coh; post_material -= Δ; post_energy -= Δ·assembly_cost + post_tag -= Δ + if post_endurance_need > endur_thr: + Δ' = min(cap_batch, post_material·f_cap, post_energy·f_cap) + post_budget_ceiling += Δ'; post_material -= Δ'; post_energy -= Δ'·biogenesis_cost + post_endurance_need -= Δ' + // EMIT (none — spine is a leaf) + // RECOVER reclaim material from decayed ceilings + post_material += post_ceiling_shrinkage·recycle // energy NOT recovered + // DECAY + post_structure -= decay_rate·Δt_cycle; post_budget_ceiling -= capacity_decay_rate·Δt_cycle + post_structure += min(post_maint, maint_cost); post_budget_ceiling += min(post_cap_maint, cap_cost) + post_tag *= decay(slow); post_endurance_need *= decay(slow) +``` --- -## Behaviors — biological meaning +## DEND -### PRE | AP — neurotransmitter release -`NT_flux = RRP × sat(pre_fast_trace, K_release)` models continuous NT release proportional to -the readily-releasable pool and a saturating Ca²⁺ drive (synaptotagmin's cooperative Ca²⁺ -sensitivity, simplified to a saturating curve). RRP depletes as released (short-term depression -as a consequence) and refills via VATPase (energy-throttled, so low budget deepens depression). -The mGluR2/3 brake is presynaptic autoinhibition by spillover (Gi → reduced VGCC opening). +The dendritic branch is the postsynapse's supply line and the neuron's input integrator. It +carries the back-propagating spike out to its spines, integrates their voltages toward the +soma, and ships material and budget to the spines it supports. Its behavior unfolds across two +DAY contexts and the NIGHT scope. -### POST | NOT_bAP — three calcium sources, two plasticity cases -- **Source 1 (AMPA):** glutamate opens AMPA → depolarizing current + small Ca²⁺; the - depolarization begins ejecting the NMDA Mg²⁺ block. -- **Source 2 (NMDA):** if depolarized enough (Mg²⁺ ejected) AND D-serine present (astrocyte - co-agonist) AND glutamate bound → large Ca²⁺ influx. This is the coincidence detector. -- **Source 3 (bAP, separate context):** back-propagating AP adds depolarization + Ca²⁺, - amplifying an existing signal supralinearly. -- **Case 1 (STP):** high Ca²⁺ drives AMPA receptors from the local reserve to the surface, - bounded by the anchoring-slot ceiling. Fast, reversible, NO dopamine. When Ca²⁺ falls, - receptors drift back — short-term depression as a passive consequence, never signaled. -- **Case 2 (LTP tag):** high Ca²⁺ + (later) dopamine sets the tag that NIGHT uses to raise the - slot ceiling. NIGHT builds slots; DAY fills them. +**During DAY, during bAP — the branch propagates and integrates.** When the soma fires, the +branch propagates the back-propagating spike toward its spines, with a fidelity that attenuates +with distance (distal spines get weaker confirmation, are harder to potentiate). It deposits +branch calcium and integrates its spines' voltages into a single branch signal sent on to the +soma. A fuel shortfall that cuts propagation short while the branch was strongly active is +endurance evidence; propagation that simply attenuates with distance is a structural limit, not +endurance. -### DEND | bAP — bidirectional signaling -Propagates the bAP from soma toward spines (fidelity attenuates with distance — distal spines -get weaker confirmation, are harder to potentiate) and integrates spine signals toward the soma. +**During DAY, during NOT_bAP — the branch consolidates, supplies, and recovers.** It maintains +its tag toward consolidation, lowers its commit threshold under acetylcholine (attention), +ships budget down to its spines (demand-weighted by their tags), runs local translation if +tagged, refills its own budget from astrocytic lactate and somatic shipment, and lets its +traces decay. -### SOMA | AP — integration, firing, emergent timing -Fires when integrated branch input exceeds a threshold that is the baseline (from structure) -raised by adaptation and modulated by neuromodulators, gated by the emergent refractory state. -Each AP deposits three traces (inactivation → refractory, adaptation → threshold rise, nuclear -Ca²⁺ → plasticity). The soma is the coincidence detector at the cellular scale (nuclear Ca²⁺ + -dopamine → CREB), and the production bottleneck: its tag gates how much material all downstream -components get in NIGHT. +**During NIGHT — the branch's ceilings are rewritten.** NIGHT raises **structure** (bAP +fidelity, translation capacity) where a validated tag accumulated and **budget capacity** where +fuel interrupted strong branch activity, both from the shared pool, both competing; unmaintained +ceilings drift down. -### AXON | AP — reliable propagation with frequency-dependent failure -Propagation reliability is set by myelination and degraded by high-frequency load (Na⁺ -inactivation at branch points = axonal STD). The axon also transports material to boutons and -sets the timescale of presynaptic structural commits. +``` +// PARAMETERS prop_cost · branch_Ca_cost · integrate_cost · translate_cost · ACh_gain +// INTERFACE +// EMIT bAP_local → POST ; branch_Vm → SOMA ; dend_ship_post → POST +// RECEIVE (signals) SOMA.fired ; POST.Vm + spine spillover ; dopamine ; ACh +// READ SOMA.fired ; POST.Vm + spine spillover ; dopamine ; ACh +// OWN dend_structure{bAP_fidelity(pos), translation_ceiling, transport_speed} ; dend_budget_ceiling +// SUPPLY astro_lactate[branch] ← ASTRO ; soma_ship_dend ← SOMA ; dend_material, dend_energy ← SOMA(NIGHT) +// NOTE DEND endurance fires only on FUEL-limited propagation, not structural attenuation; +// own-state proxy (strong branch activity); no arrived feedback term. -### ASTRO | CONTINUOUS — gatekeeper and energy hub -Clears glutamate (EAAT), supplies D-serine (the NMDA co-agonist that gates postsynaptic LTP), -and distributes lactate to the territory by demand-weighting (active synapses generating more -clearance load pull more fuel; slow synapses get less). The same spillover that excites the -astrocyte (mGluR5 → Ca²⁺ → D-serine) also brakes the presynapse (mGluR2/3 → Gi) — one signal, -opposite effects via different receptors. The astrocyte is the energy root and the gain control -of the whole synapse. +DAY | bAP: + // ADJUST (propagation strength from structure — inside propagate()) + // BEHAVE (propagate bAP; distinguish fuel-limited vs structure-limited shortfall) + if dend_budget < prop_cost: + // FUEL shortfall → endurance (branch was strongly active) + if dend_fast_trace > traj_thr: + dend_endurance_need += dend_fast_trace + bAP_local, reached = propagate_partial(dend_budget) + else: + bAP_local, reached = propagate(SOMA.fired, dend_structure.bAP_fidelity, geometry) + // reached < full here is structural attenuation (distance), NOT endurance + dend_budget -= prop_cost × reached + // TRACE + dend_fast_trace += bAP_Ca(bAP_local) + spine_spillover(); dend_budget -= branch_Ca_cost + // EMIT (integrated voltage to soma ; propagated bAP already reached spines) + branch_Vm = integrate(POST.Vm, spines); dend_budget -= integrate_cost + +DAY | NOT_bAP: + // TRACE (strength) + if dend_fast_trace > elig: dend_possible_tag += dend_fast_trace + if dopamine > dop_thr and dend_possible_tag > tag_thr: + dend_tag += dopamine × dend_possible_tag + // ADJUST (commit threshold lowered by attention) + commit_threshold *= 1/(1 + ACh·ACh_gain) + // BEHAVE (local translation if tagged — fills dend capacity faster) + if dend_tag > tag_expiry and dend_budget > translate_cost: dend_budget -= translate_cost + // EMIT (ship budget to spines; demand = post tag) + dend_ship_post = ship(dend_budget, post_demand, post_ship_frac, ship_cost) + // RECOVER (refill budget from contested supply) + dend_budget += refill(dend from astro_lactate[branch] + transit(soma_ship_dend, τ_transport_dend)) + // DECAY + // FAST (ms–s) + dend_fast_trace *= decay(300ms) + // MEDIUM (s–min) + dend_possible_tag *= decay(s); dend_endurance_need *= decay(min) + // SLOW (hr) + dend_tag *= decay(hr) + // (PERSISTENT: dend_structure, dend_budget_ceiling — no DAY decay; NIGHT only) + +NIGHT | cycle: // intermediate node (relays down to POST) + // RECEIVE batch arrived from SOMA this cycle + dend_material += transit(soma_material_to_dend, τ_transport_dend) + dend_energy += transit(soma_energy_to_dend, τ_transport_dend) + // TRACE read standing demand (dend_tag → structure ; dend_endurance_need → budget_ceiling) + // ADJUST (no coherence — DEND is not a synaptic component) + // BEHAVE commit batches; spend tag/need as fuel + if dend_tag > tag_expiry: + Δ = min(slot_batch, dend_material, dend_energy·f_cap) + dend_structure += Δ; dend_material -= Δ; dend_energy -= Δ·assembly_cost; dend_tag -= Δ + if dend_endurance_need > endur_thr: + Δ' = min(cap_batch, dend_material·f_cap, dend_energy·f_cap) + dend_budget_ceiling += Δ'; dend_material -= Δ'; dend_energy -= Δ'·biogenesis_cost + dend_endurance_need -= Δ' + // EMIT ship remaining batch one hop down to POST (demand = post tag) + post_material_ship += ship(dend_material, post_demand, f_spine, ship_cost) + post_energy_ship += ship(dend_energy, post_demand, f_spine, ship_cost) + // RECOVER reclaim material from decayed ceilings + dend_material += dend_ceiling_shrinkage·recycle // energy NOT recovered + // DECAY + dend_structure -= decay_rate·Δt_cycle; dend_budget_ceiling -= capacity_decay_rate·Δt_cycle + dend_structure += min(dend_maint, maint_cost); dend_budget_ceiling += min(dend_cap_maint, cap_cost) + dend_tag *= decay(slow); dend_endurance_need *= decay(slow) +``` --- -## NIGHT operations — biological meaning +## SOMA -- **Step 1 (replenish/distribute):** overnight protein synthesis peaks (CREB-driven, gated by - soma_tag — corresponds to slow-wave-sleep replay). Soma material flows to branches/axon then - spines/boutons; astrocyte material flows to astrosynapses, tag-weighted. -- **Step 2 (strength commits):** tagged components build structure — more slots, tighter - coupling, tighter astrosynaptic wrap. Coherence bonus when pre+post+astro all tagged (the - whole synapse agrees). astro_structure self-reinforces. -- **Step 2b (endurance commits):** components with high endurance_need build budget_ceiling — - mitochondrial biogenesis. Competes with step 2 for the same material/energy. -- **Step 3 (passive decay):** both ceilings decay; maintenance from the remaining pool resists - decay only where sufficient. Depotentiation and endurance-loss are both by neglect — no - signal weakens anything; unmaintained capacity simply drifts down. Recovered material (not - energy) returns to pools. -- **Step 4 (homeostatic scaling):** if the soma fired too much overall, all synapses scale down - proportionally (sleep-associated global downscaling), preserving relative differences. -- **Step 5 (clear traces):** fast traces, possible tags, endurance needs, and soma timing traces - reset; tags below expiry clear, above-expiry tags carry forward (multi-night consolidation); - structure and budget_ceiling persist. +The soma is the neuron's integrating center and the root of its structural material. It sums +the branch inputs, fires when they exceed a threshold it sets from its own adaptation and the +neuromodulators, and ships material and budget out to the dendrites and axon. Its timing — +refractoriness, adaptation, rhythm alignment — emerges bottom-up from local traces, never from +a represented clock. Its behavior unfolds across two DAY contexts and the NIGHT scope. -### Shockwave lockdown -Emergency global astrocytic Ca²⁺ wave → GABA + ATP release → mass AMPA internalization and -hyperpolarization. Bypasses budget gates. A circuit breaker against runaway excitation. +**During DAY, during AP — the soma integrates and fires.** It computes its firing threshold +from its baseline (structure), its accumulated adaptation, and the neuromodulators, and checks +its refractory state; if the integrated branch input clears the threshold and fuel allows, it +fires. One spike deposits three traces at three timescales — sodium inactivation (refractory), +slow-potassium adaptation (threshold rise), and nuclear calcium (toward CREB and the tag). A +fuel shortfall while nuclear calcium was climbing is endurance evidence; being refractory or +sub-threshold is a timing limit, not endurance. + +**During DAY, during NOT_AP — the soma recovers, aligns, and supplies.** It self-replenishes +from its own mitochondria (its private root), integrates the latest branch inputs, deposits a +refractory-alignment trace when suprathreshold input arrived during its refractory period (so it +aligns to its input rhythm bottom-up), ships budget to dendrites and axon (demand-weighted by +their tags), recovers from refractoriness at a rate its alignment trace speeds up, and lets its +traces decay. + +**During NIGHT — the soma's ceilings are rewritten, and it gates the whole neuron's material.** +NIGHT raises **structure** (excitability, synthesis capacity) and **budget capacity** from the +shared pool; crucially the soma's own tag gates CREB-driven synthesis, so how much material all +downstream components receive depends on the soma having been tagged. + +``` +// PARAMETERS ap_cost · nuclear_cost · creb_cost · mito_output · inactivation · ap_amp · ap_contrib +// base_recovery · τ_Na · τ_adapt · τ_nuclear · τ_align +// INTERFACE +// EMIT fired → AXON (propagate) + DEND (bAP) ; soma_ship_dend → DEND ; soma_ship_axon → AXON +// RECEIVE (signals) branch_Vm ← DEND ; dopamine ; NE ; ACh +// READ dopamine ; NE ; ACh +// OWN soma_structure{baseline_threshold, AP_reliability, synthesis_ceiling} ; soma_budget_ceiling +// SUPPLY self (mitochondria, ROOT — private) +// NOTE SOMA endurance fires only on FUEL shortfall (budget < ap_cost); +// refractory / sub-threshold are timing limits, not endurance. Own-state proxy. + +DAY | AP: + // ADJUST (threshold from structure + adaptation + neuromodulators ; refractory gate) + threshold = soma_structure.baseline_threshold × (1 + soma_adaptation) × neuromod(NE, ACh) + can_fire = soma_Na_inactivation < inactivation + // BEHAVE (fire if able) + if branch_Vm > threshold and can_fire: + if soma_budget < ap_cost: + // FUEL shortfall → endurance (firing was approaching CREB) + if soma_fast_trace > traj_thr and soma_fast_trace_rising: + soma_endurance_need += soma_fast_trace + exit + // EMIT (fired → AXON, DEND) + fired = True; soma_budget -= ap_cost + // TRACE (three traces from one AP — FAST nuclear-Ca, MEDIUM adaptation, refractory) + soma_Na_inactivation += ap_amp // → refractory (emergent) + soma_adaptation += ap_contrib // → threshold rise + soma_fast_trace += nuclear_Ca(); soma_budget -= nuclear_cost + // TRACE (strength) + if soma_fast_trace > elig: soma_possible_tag += soma_fast_trace + if dopamine > dop_thr and soma_possible_tag > tag_thr: + soma_tag += dopamine × soma_possible_tag + soma_budget -= creb_cost + // TRACE (NEURON-level aggregator — the cell sums what its components emit, by DAY) + neuron_activity += 1 // total firing this day + neuron_total_weight += Σ all component structure across the cell // running weight tally + +DAY | NOT_AP: + // RECEIVE (integrate latest branch input — signal) + branch_Vm = integrate(DEND.branch_Vm, branches) + // TRACE (bottom-up refractory alignment: suprathreshold input during refractory) + if branch_Vm > threshold and soma_Na_inactivation > inactivation: + soma_refractory_alignment += (branch_Vm - threshold) × soma_Na_inactivation + // EMIT (ship downstream into transit; demand = propagated tags) + soma_ship_dend = ship(soma_budget, dend_demand, dend_ship_frac, ship_cost) + soma_ship_axon = ship(soma_budget, axon_demand, axon_ship_frac, ship_cost) + // RECOVER (self-replenish from private root ; inactivation recovery sped by alignment) + soma_budget += fill(soma_budget, soma_budget_ceiling, mito_output, 0, soma_budget) + recovery = base_recovery × (1 + soma_refractory_alignment) + soma_Na_inactivation *= decay(τ_Na / recovery) + // DECAY + // FAST (ms–s) — refractory + nuclear-Ca + alignment (sub-second to seconds) + soma_fast_trace *= decay(τ_nuclear); soma_refractory_alignment *= decay(τ_align) // self-limiting + // MEDIUM (s–min) — adaptation + tagging evidence + soma_adaptation *= decay(τ_adapt) + soma_possible_tag *= decay(s); soma_endurance_need *= decay(min) + // SLOW (hr) + soma_tag *= decay(hr) + // (signals) + dopamine *= decay(ms) + // (PERSISTENT: soma_structure, soma_budget_ceiling — no DAY decay; NIGHT only) + +NIGHT | cycle: // ROOT (neuronal material) — produces each cycle + // RECEIVE = PRODUCTION: synthesize this cycle's batch, gated by own tag, capped externally + soma_material += CREB_synth(soma_tag)·Δt_cycle // material — recoverable + soma_energy += mito_synth()·Δt_cycle // energy — NOT recoverable, bounded by night budget + night_energy_spent += mito_synth()·Δt_cycle // track against night supply ceiling + // TRACE read standing demand (soma_tag → structure ; soma_endurance_need → budget_ceiling) + // ADJUST (no coherence — SOMA is not a synaptic component) + // BEHAVE commit own batches + if soma_tag > tag_expiry: + Δ = min(slot_batch, soma_material, soma_energy·f_cap) + soma_structure += Δ; soma_material -= Δ; soma_energy -= Δ·assembly_cost; soma_tag -= Δ + if soma_endurance_need > endur_thr: + Δ' = min(cap_batch, soma_material·f_cap, soma_energy·f_cap) + soma_budget_ceiling += Δ'; soma_material -= Δ'; soma_energy -= Δ'·biogenesis_cost + soma_endurance_need -= Δ' + // EMIT ship batches one hop down to DEND and AXON (demand = propagated tags) + soma_material_to_dend += ship(soma_material, dend_demand, f_dend, ship_cost) + soma_material_to_axon += ship(soma_material, axon_demand, f_axon, ship_cost) + soma_energy_to_dend += ship(soma_energy, dend_demand, f_dend, ship_cost) + soma_energy_to_axon += ship(soma_energy, axon_demand, f_axon, ship_cost) + // RECOVER reclaim material from decayed ceilings (own + returned from downstream) + soma_material += soma_ceiling_shrinkage·recycle + // DECAY + soma_structure -= decay_rate·Δt_cycle; soma_budget_ceiling -= capacity_decay_rate·Δt_cycle + soma_structure += min(soma_maint, maint_cost); soma_budget_ceiling += min(soma_cap_maint, cap_cost) + soma_tag *= decay(slow); soma_endurance_need *= decay(slow) +``` --- -## Pool-filling: private reserve vs contested supply +## AXON -The pseudocode uses two filling primitives, distinguished by where the resource comes from. +The axon carries the soma's spike out to its boutons and is the presynapse's supply line. It +propagates reliably or not depending on its myelination and its recent load, and ships material +and budget to the boutons. Its behavior unfolds across two DAY contexts and the NIGHT scope. -**`fill` (private reserve).** The pool is replenished from a source the component owns -outright, uncontested by siblings, bounded by the component's own ceiling and a rate cap. -- RRP refill — vesicles mobilized from the bouton's own reserve pool toward the docking-slot - ceiling, rate-limited by VATPase. The reserve is private to the bouton. -- SOMA self-replenish — the soma fuels itself from its own mitochondria toward its budget - ceiling. No other component draws on it. +**During DAY, during AP — the axon propagates the spike.** Reliability is set by structure +(myelination) and degraded by recent high-frequency load (sodium inactivation at branch points — +axonal short-term depression). A fuel shortfall while carrying a strong train is endurance +evidence; load-driven failure is short-term depression, a consequence, not endurance. -**`refill` (contested supply).** The pool is replenished from a supply that multiple -components compete for, rationed by demand (gap to ceiling). -- pre/post/dend/axon budgets — drawn from astrocytic lactate (shared across all synapses the - astrocyte wraps) plus shipment from soma/axon/dendrite (shared across downstream targets). +**During DAY, during NOT_AP — the axon supplies and recovers.** It maintains its tag, ships +budget to its boutons (demand-weighted by their tags), refills its own budget from somatic +shipment and astrocytic lactate, and lets its traces decay. -**Neither primitive (their own forms).** Some inflows are not fills toward a ceiling: -- AMPA surface insertion — Ca²⁺-driven rate from the spine's private endosomal reserve, with - an explicit passive drift-back (short-term depression) when Ca²⁺ is low. Not a steady fill. -- D-serine release — demand-driven (saturating in astro Ca²⁺) and budget-limited, like NT - release; a release process, not a pool top-up. -- Root productions — `glycolysis(glucose)` at the astrocyte and `CREB_synth(soma_tag)` at the - soma are the system's energy and material roots: raw inflows capped only by the external - vascular supply, not fills toward an internal ceiling. +**During NIGHT — the axon's ceilings are rewritten.** NIGHT raises **structure** (myelination, +transport capacity) and **budget capacity** from the shared pool, both competing; unmaintained +ceilings drift down. -The distinction matters biologically: a private reserve guarantees a component some autonomy -(the bouton can refill its RRP from its own vesicles even when lactate is scarce), while a -contested supply couples a component's fate to its neighbours' demands (operational budget -fails first where many active synapses compete for the same lactate). +``` +// PARAMETERS prop_cost · budget_factor +// INTERFACE +// EMIT APs_delivered → PRE (propagation) ; axon_ship_pre → PRE +// RECEIVE (signals) SOMA.fired ; dopamine +// READ SOMA.fired ; dopamine +// OWN axon_structure{propagation, transport_ceiling, mito_density} ; axon_budget_ceiling +// SUPPLY soma_ship_axon ← SOMA ; astro_lactate[shaft] ← ASTRO ; axon_material, axon_energy ← SOMA(NIGHT) +// NOTE AXON endurance fires only on FUEL shortfall; load-driven failure fail(fast_trace) +// is axonal STD (a consequence), not endurance. Own-state proxy. + +DAY | AP: + // ADJUST (reliability from structure − load-driven failure) + reliability = axon_structure.propagation × (1 - fail(axon_fast_trace)) // fail() = STD, not endurance + // BEHAVE (propagate; FUEL shortfall degrades + flags endurance) + if axon_budget < prop_cost: + reliability *= budget_factor + if axon_fast_trace > traj_thr: // FUEL-limited → endurance + axon_endurance_need += axon_fast_trace + delivered = fired × reliability; axon_budget -= prop_cost × delivered + // EMIT (delivered APs reach boutons) + // TRACE + axon_fast_trace += delivered; axon_fast_trace *= decay(s) + +DAY | NOT_AP: + // TRACE (strength) + if axon_fast_trace > elig: axon_possible_tag += axon_fast_trace + if dopamine > dop_thr and axon_possible_tag > tag_thr: + axon_tag += dopamine × axon_possible_tag + // EMIT (ship to boutons; demand = pre tag) + axon_ship_pre = ship(axon_budget, pre_demand, pre_ship_frac, ship_cost) + // RECOVER (refill budget from contested supply) + axon_budget += refill(axon from soma_ship_axon + astro_lactate[shaft]) + // DECAY + // FAST (ms–s) + axon_fast_trace *= decay(s) + // MEDIUM (s–min) + axon_possible_tag *= decay(s); axon_endurance_need *= decay(min) + // SLOW (hr) + axon_tag *= decay(hr) + // (PERSISTENT: axon_structure, axon_budget_ceiling — no DAY decay; NIGHT only) + +NIGHT | cycle: // intermediate node (relays down to PRE) + // RECEIVE batch arrived from SOMA this cycle + axon_material += transit(soma_material_to_axon, τ_transport_dend) + axon_energy += transit(soma_energy_to_axon, τ_transport_dend) + // TRACE read standing demand (axon_tag → structure ; axon_endurance_need → budget_ceiling) + // ADJUST (no coherence — AXON is not a synaptic component) + // BEHAVE commit batches; spend tag/need as fuel + if axon_tag > tag_expiry: + Δ = min(slot_batch, axon_material, axon_energy·f_cap) + axon_structure += Δ; axon_material -= Δ; axon_energy -= Δ·assembly_cost; axon_tag -= Δ + if axon_endurance_need > endur_thr: + Δ' = min(cap_batch, axon_material·f_cap, axon_energy·f_cap) + axon_budget_ceiling += Δ'; axon_material -= Δ'; axon_energy -= Δ'·biogenesis_cost + axon_endurance_need -= Δ' + // EMIT ship remaining batch one hop down to PRE (demand = pre tag) + pre_material_ship += ship(axon_material, pre_demand, f_bouton, ship_cost) + pre_energy_ship += ship(axon_energy, pre_demand, f_bouton, ship_cost) + // RECOVER reclaim material from decayed ceilings + axon_material += axon_ceiling_shrinkage·recycle // energy NOT recovered + // DECAY + axon_structure -= decay_rate·Δt_cycle; axon_budget_ceiling -= capacity_decay_rate·Δt_cycle + axon_structure += min(axon_maint, maint_cost); axon_budget_ceiling += min(axon_cap_maint, cap_cost) + axon_tag *= decay(slow); axon_endurance_need *= decay(slow) +``` --- -## PRE ↔ POST interaction: local computation, message-only coupling +## ASTRO -The presynapse and postsynapse never read each other's internal state. They interact only -by writing to and reading from shared cleft channels. Each side computes entirely locally on -what it has: its own variables plus whatever signals have arrived in the cleft. This is the -message-passing realization of the locality principle. +The astrosynapse is the synapse's gatekeeper and energy hub. It clears glutamate, supplies the +D-serine that gates postsynaptic NMDA, and distributes lactate across its territory by demand. +Unlike the others it runs in a single continuous context rather than spiking, and its structure +reshapes the synapse's operating point rather than just its range. -**Forward channel — glutamate (PRE → POST and ASTRO).** The presynapse writes glutamate via -NT_flux. The postsynapse reads it (AMPA, NMDA) and the astrosynapse reads it (clearance, -mGluR5). The astrosynapse clears it. PRE never knows whether POST responded — it only emits. +**During DAY, continuously — the astrosynapse clears, gates, and fuels.** It produces energy at +its cell body (glycolysis from glucose, the system's energy root), then allocates lactate across +its astrosynapses weighted by each one's clearance demand. At each astrosynapse it clears +spillover glutamate (EAAT) and supplies tonic D-serine; when spillover is high it adds a +demand-driven D-serine pulse, brakes nothing of the presynapse directly (the presynaptic brake +is PRE reading its own cleft), deposits its calcium trace, and accumulates a dopamine-gated tag. +A D-serine pulse cut short by low budget while demand was high is endurance evidence; one cut +short by precursor/material exhaustion is a material limit, not endurance. Excess overflow +triggers the protective shockwave lockdown. -**Gate channel — astro_Dserine (ASTRO → POST).** The astrosynapse writes D-serine; the -postsynapse reads it as the obligatory NMDA co-agonist. POST cannot open NMDA without this -arrived signal, but it does not read the astrocyte's state — only the delivered D-serine. +**During NIGHT — the astrosynapse's ceilings are rewritten.** NIGHT raises **structure** +(perisynaptic wrap, EAAT density, tonic D-serine) where a validated tag accumulated and **budget +capacity** where budget-limited synthesis recurred; astro_structure is self-reinforcing in both +directions, so it amplifies whatever trajectory the synapse is already on. -**Backward channel + — retro_NO (POST → PRE).** When the postsynapse's NMDA opens (Mg²⁺ -ejected, D-serine present, glutamate bound), nNOS — physically tethered to the NMDA receptor -through PSD-95 — synthesises nitric oxide (and, on a slower timescale, BDNF is released). -These diffuse retrogradely to the presynapse. Biologically this is the classic retrograde -messenger of LTP: it tells the bouton that its release landed on a postsynapse that genuinely -responded. In the model, POST emits `retro_NO` proportional to its own NMDA-driven calcium — -computed purely from POST's local state — and PRE reads it as `retro_NO_local`. +``` +// PARAMETERS K_Dserine · Ds_max · Ds_frac · Ds_cost · EAAT_cost · lactate_cost · spillover · overload +// INTERFACE +// EMIT astro_lactate[i] → pre/post/dend budgets ; astro_Dserine[i] → POST (gate) +// RECEIVE (signals) glutamate ← PRE (clearance + spillover) ; dopamine +// READ glutamate ; dopamine +// OWN astro_structure{perisynaptic_distance⁻¹, EAAT, Dserine_tonic, ECM} ; astro_budget_ceiling +// SUPPLY glucose (ROOT) ; astro_material, astro_energy ← cell body (NIGHT) +// NOTE ASTRO endurance fires on BUDGET-limited synthesis (got spillover: + // TRACE + astro_fast_trace[i] += mGluR_Ca(); astro_fast_trace[i] *= decay(s) + // ADJUST (D-serine demand from spillover) + want = sat(astro_fast_trace[i], K_Dserine) × Ds_max + got = min(want, astro_central_budget × Ds_frac) + // BEHAVE + EMIT (D-serine pulse to POST gate) + astro_Dserine[i] += got; astro_central_budget -= got·Ds_cost + // TRACE (endurance: BUDGET-limited synthesis under high own demand) + if got < want and astro_central_budget low and astro_fast_trace[i] > traj_thr: + astro_endurance_need[i] += (want - got) + // TRACE (strength) + if astro_fast_trace[i] > elig: astro_possible_tag[i] += astro_fast_trace[i] + if dopamine > dop_thr and astro_possible_tag[i] > tag_thr: + astro_tag[i] += dopamine × astro_possible_tag[i] + // DECAY + // FAST (ms–s) — astro_fast_trace already decayed above (intra-step) + // MEDIUM (s–min) + astro_possible_tag[i] *= decay(s); astro_endurance_need[i] *= decay(min) + // SLOW (hr) + astro_tag[i] *= decay(hr) + // (PERSISTENT: astro_structure, astro_budget_ceiling — no DAY decay; NIGHT only) + // EMERGENCY + if astro_fast_trace[i] > overload: emit(shockwave_lockdown) +NIGHT | cycle: // ROOT (synaptic energy + ECM) — produces each cycle + // RECEIVE = PRODUCTION: glycolysis + ECM synthesis this cycle, capped by glucose + astro_central_energy += overnight_glycolysis(glucose)·Δt_cycle // energy — NOT recoverable + astro_central_material += astro_cellbody_synth()·Δt_cycle // material — recoverable + night_energy_spent += overnight_glycolysis(glucose)·Δt_cycle + // ADJUST tag-weighted shares across the territory + W = Σ astro_tag[i] over astro_tag[i] > tag_expiry + // EMIT distribute this cycle's batch to astrosynapses (demand = own tag) + for each i with astro_tag[i] > tag_expiry: + w = astro_tag[i]/W + astro_energy[i] += astro_central_energy·w + astro_material[i] += astro_central_material·w + // BEHAVE each astrosynapse commits; spend tag/need as fuel (coherence applies — synaptic) + for each astrosynapse i: + coh = coherence_signal[i] + if astro_tag[i] > tag_expiry: + Δ = min(slot_batch, astro_material[i], astro_energy[i]·f_cap) + astro_structure[i] += Δ × coh // self-reinforcing both directions + astro_material[i] -= Δ; astro_energy[i] -= Δ·assembly_cost; astro_tag[i] -= Δ + if astro_endurance_need[i] > endur_thr: + Δ' = min(cap_batch, astro_material[i]·f_cap, astro_energy[i]·f_cap) + astro_budget_ceiling[i] += Δ'; astro_material[i] -= Δ' + astro_energy[i] -= Δ'·biogenesis_cost; astro_endurance_need[i] -= Δ' + // RECOVER reclaim material from decayed ceilings + astro_central_material += astro_ceiling_shrinkage·recycle // energy NOT recovered + // DECAY + for each i: + astro_structure[i] -= decay_rate·Δt_cycle; astro_budget_ceiling[i] -= capacity_decay_rate·Δt_cycle + astro_structure[i] += min(astro_maint[i], maint_cost) + astro_budget_ceiling[i] += min(astro_cap_maint[i], cap_cost) + astro_tag[i] *= decay(slow); astro_endurance_need[i] *= decay(slow) +``` --- -## Presynaptic short-term potentiation — VGCC coupling occupancy +## Special — Shockwave Lockdown -`VGCC_active` is the presynaptic parallel to the postsynaptic `AMPA_surface`. Both are MEDIUM-tier -occupancy variables: a current operating value filled toward a NIGHT-built ceiling, no dopamine, -reversible, drifting back when undriven. +``` +DAY or NIGHT | OVERLOAD: + Vm = HYPERPOLARIZED; AMPA_surface = mass_internalize() → post reserve + axon_fast_trace += overdrive(); astro_central_budget -= emergency_cost +``` -Biologically, `VGCC_active` represents the effective coupling between voltage-gated calcium -channels and the vesicle docking slots — how reliably each calcium influx is converted into -release. Repeated eligible activity (accumulated `pre_possible_tag`) transiently tightens this -coupling — through calcium-channel facilitation, active-zone protein phosphorylation, and -channel-to-sensor proximity changes — raising release efficiency without changing the number of -channels (which is the structural ceiling `pre_structure.VGCC_coupling`, written only at NIGHT). -When eligibility falls, the coupling relaxes back to baseline over seconds-to-minutes: presynaptic -short-term depression as the passive consequence of undriven coupling, never a signalled act. +--- +--- +# NIGHT — the driver (a hierarchy of actors, phased) +NIGHT runs a loop of cycles. Each cycle has FOUR actor tiers acting in order from the top of the +hierarchy down: the external replay signal arrives, the NEURON renormalizes, the ASTROCYTE +territory reallocates, then the COMPONENTS commit within what they were handed. The night is +PHASED: early cycles DOWNSCALE (reset occupancy, renormalize weight — subtractive, make room), +later cycles COMMIT (build ceilings for the survivors — additive). It ends emergently. -This gives the presynapse a genuine intermediate-timescale memory it previously lacked — a -"this bouton has been reliably active lately" state that outlasts individual spikes and bursts, -filling the gap between the fast trace (residual calcium, ~100 ms) and the tag (hours). It also -completes the capacity/occupancy symmetry across the synapse: both PRE and POST now fill a -MEDIUM occupancy variable toward a PERSISTENT structural ceiling, rather than PRE reading its -ceiling directly as if capacity and occupancy were the same thing. +``` +NIGHT driver: + night_energy_spent = 0 + N_cycles_early = early_phase_frac × estimated_cycles + repeat cycle = 1, 2, 3, …: + phase = (cycle ≤ N_cycles_early) ? DOWNSCALE : COMMIT + // ── TIER 0: ASSEMBLY/NETWORK (external) ─────────────────────────────── + // replay_reweight[s] arrives this cycle: re-presents the day's patterns and + // re-weights which synapses the assembly found significant (external signal). + + // ── TIER 1: NEURON (renormalize total weight; drive occupancy downscaling) ── + if phase == DOWNSCALE: + // multiplicative-global occupancy reset — only CEILINGS will persist + for each synapse s: + VGCC_active[s] *= downscale_factor + AMPA_surface[s] *= downscale_factor + possible_tag[s] *= downscale_factor // medium evidence renormalized too + // renormalize total committed weight toward the cell's budget (Tononi-style) + if neuron_total_weight > neuron_weight_ceiling: + g = neuron_weight_ceiling / neuron_total_weight + for each component c in cell: c_structure *= g + soma_material += Σ reduction·recycle // freed material returns to pool + + // ── TIER 2: ASTROCYTE territory (reallocate metabolic support) ───────── + // reallocate this cycle's energy/material across the territory by accumulated demand, + // re-weighted by replay — the astrocyte is the metabolic arbiter of its synapses + for each astrosynapse i: + astro_alloc[i] = (astro_territory_demand[i] × replay_reweight[i]) + / Σ(astro_territory_demand × replay_reweight) + // (astro_alloc biases each synapse's share of the astrocyte's produced batch this cycle) + + // ── TIER 3: COMPONENTS (commit within the allocation handed down) ────── + // coherence signal (cross-component) from this cycle's standing tags + for each synapse s: + coherence_signal[s] = (pre_tag[s], post_tag[s], astro_tag[s] all > tag_expiry) + ? coherence_factor : 1 + if phase == COMMIT: + run PRE, POST, DEND, SOMA, AXON, ASTRO NIGHT | cycle // build ceilings + else: + run SOMA, ASTRO NIGHT | cycle (PRODUCE + EMIT only) // pre-stage material downstream + + // ── termination — emergent, OR of two conditions ────────────────────── + night_energy_spent updated by the roots' production this cycle + demand_left = Σ all tags > tag_expiry (system-wide) + if demand_left ≈ 0: break // DEMAND exhausted (rested) + if night_energy_spent ≥ night_energy_ceiling: break // SUPPLY spent (overloaded) + + // ── CODA (once at end of night) ──────────────────────────────────────────── + // clear DAY traces and the DAY aggregators; occupancy already reset by downscaling + all fast_trace, possible_tag, endurance_need = 0 + soma_Na_inactivation = soma_adaptation = soma_refractory_alignment = 0 + neuron_activity = 0; neuron_total_weight = recomputed from surviving structure + astro_territory_demand[·] = 0 + // tags are NOT cleared — unspent tags carry forward, decaying on their slow τ + // structure and budget_ceiling PERSIST as the next DAY's ceilings + // VGCC_active / AMPA_surface have been returned to baseline by downscaling +``` + +Notes. (1) The phasing makes cycles genuinely different: an early cycle reshapes the landscape +(reset occupancy, renormalize weight, pre-stage material), a late cycle builds on the reshaped +landscape — so what gets committed depends on the order, and could not be computed in one shot. +(2) Higher actors never read a component's interior: the neuron renormalizes a sum it accumulated +from emitted activity; the astrocyte reallocates by demand it accumulated; coherence and replay +arrive as signals. Locality holds — the system acts locally and consolidates hierarchically. +(3) Occupancy is reset every night, so each DAY starts from baseline occupancy against whatever +ceilings persisted: the only thing that carries a day forward is what earned a ceiling. --- -## NIGHT as iterated NREM cycles — the biology +## One-view summary -The distributed, cyclic NIGHT models sleep-dependent consolidation more faithfully than a single -commit step. +``` +SEVEN-GROUP GRAMMAR, TWO SCOPES, ONE LADDER + RECEIVE · TRACE · ADJUST · BEHAVE · EMIT · RECOVER · DECAY -**Why cycles, not one event.** NREM sleep proceeds in repeated cycles (the ultradian ~90-minute -rhythm, and within it the <1 Hz slow oscillation with its up- and down-states). Protein synthesis, -hippocampal–cortical replay, and synaptic renormalization all advance incrementally across these -cycles rather than in a single consolidation moment. Modeling NIGHT as a loop of cycles captures -this: each cycle is a small, local round of produce → transport → incorporate. - -**Production each cycle (the roots).** The soma's CREB-driven transcription/translation produces a -batch of structural material per cycle, gated by the soma's own tag (replay-driven activity). -The astrocyte cell body produces a batch of energy (glycolysis) and ECM material per cycle, capped -by glucose. These are the two roots; everything downstream lives on what they ship. - -**Transport over cycles (the descent).** Material and energy move one hop down the supply chains -per cycle — soma → dendrite/axon → spine/bouton; astrocyte body → astrosynapses — by the same -motor transport that carries cargo by day, now at the consolidation timescale. A distal bouton on -a long axon therefore receives its material only after several cycles, so its consolidation lags -a proximal one. This is the NIGHT-scale image of the transit delay. - -**Incorporation and tag consumption (the commit).** A tagged synapse incorporates arrived material -into structure (more receptor slots, tighter active zone, tighter astrocytic wrap) or into budget -capacity (mitochondrial biogenesis), spending energy on the assembly. The tag is consumed in -proportion to what was built — the molecular tag (CaMKII/PKA-maintained eligibility) is discharged -as capture completes. A strong tag is satisfied early; a marginal one waits for later cycles. - -**Two ways the night ends.** Either the standing tags are all spent (consolidation finished — the -rested case) or the night's metabolic budget is exhausted (ran out of night — the overloaded -case). Unspent tags are not discarded: they persist (decaying slowly) into the next day and -compete again the next night, so importance is re-tested across nights and a marginal memory may -consolidate over several nights or, if it decays first, never. - -**Energy is the irreversible cost.** Material released when an unmaintained structure is pruned -returns to the pool and is reused; the energy burned to build or to prune is gone. Across a -lifetime this energy throughput bounds how much the system can ever consolidate — the metabolic -arrow of time underlying the whole model. - - ---- - -## NIGHT's hierarchy of actors — the biology - -**Why the actors differ from DAY's.** Transmission is local — a bouton releases, a spine -integrates, an astrosynapse clears. Consolidation is not: it involves quantities no single -synapse can see. Whether one synapse's strengthening "fits" depends on the neuron's total -synaptic weight; reallocating metabolic support depends on an astrocyte's whole territory; -deciding which memories to replay depends on assemblies of neurons. So NIGHT is enacted by -actors at higher scales, each conserving a quantity at its scale. - -**The astrocyte territory (Tier 2).** The astrocyte cell body supports hundreds to thousands of -synapses. By day it allocates lactate by demand; by night it reallocates its produced energy and -ECM material across its whole territory, biased by the demand it accumulated and by replay. This -is a genuine territory-level actor — the astrocyte is the metabolic arbiter of its domain, and -its nightly reallocation decides which of its synapses can afford to consolidate. - -**The neuron as a whole (Tier 1).** Synaptic homeostasis (the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis of -Tononi and Cirelli) operates on the neuron's *total* synaptic weight: across sleep, the cell's -synapses are renormalized downward multiplicatively, preserving relative differences while -restoring overall excitability and freeing capacity. This is a neuron-scale operation — no synapse -can perform it, because no synapse knows the cell's total weight. In the model the neuron -accumulates that total by day and renormalizes it by night, scaling all the cell's structures by -a common factor when the total exceeds the cell's budget. - -**The assembly / network (Tier 0, external).** Systems consolidation — hippocampal–cortical replay -— reactivates the day's patterns across ensembles of neurons during NREM, and this dialogue -selects which assemblies are written into cortex. This is a network-scale process beyond a single -neuron, so the model treats it as an external arrived signal (`replay_reweight`), exactly as it -treats dopamine and glucose. Fully modeling it requires a network of these neurons. - -**Occupancy downscaling — why only ceilings persist.** During the day, synapses fill occupancy: -receptors trafficked to the surface (AMPA_surface), calcium-channel coupling tightened -(VGCC_active), eligibility accumulated (possible_tag). These are transient and reversible. If they -carried across the night undiminished, a synapse could become lastingly strong without ever -earning a tag or paying the consolidation cost — bypassing the entire validation machinery. -Multiplicative-global downscaling during early-night cycles returns occupancy to baseline. A -synapse that was tagged and had its *ceiling* raised starts the next day strong; one that merely -filled occupancy during the day starts back at baseline. The relative potentiation survives only -where it was written into structure — which is precisely synaptic homeostasis enforcing that the -slow tier carries the learning and the fast/medium tier is renewed each day. - -**Why phased.** A single sweep cannot both reset and build, because building should act on the -*post-reset* landscape. Early cycles are subtractive (downscale occupancy, renormalize weight, -make metabolic room); later cycles are additive (commit the survivors). This is the NREM arc — -slow-wave-dominated downscaling early, selective consolidation later — and it makes each cycle's -*kind* depend on where in the night it falls, so the cycles are genuinely different operations, -not installments of one. +DAY grammar on OCCUPANCY within two ceilings (structure=strength, budget_ceiling=endurance) + bottom-up: consumers act, evidence ascends leaves→roots + TRACE yields two evidence streams from local state + arrived signals: + fast_trace + dopamine → tag (strength) + FUEL shortfall + interrupted LOCAL success → endurance_need (endurance) + OCCUPANCY/structure/timing shortfalls → short-term depression (NOT endurance) +NIGHT enacted by a HIERARCHY of actors (not the DAY components alone), PHASED: + assembly/network replay (external) → NEURON renormalize total weight + downscale occupancy + → ASTROCYTE territory reallocate → COMPONENTS commit ceilings within what's handed down + early cycles DOWNSCALE (reset occupancy multiplicatively-global, make room), + late cycles COMMIT (build ceilings for survivors) + higher actors ACCUMULATE aggregate traces by DAY, ACT by NIGHT (locality holds) + ends when DEMAND exhausted (no tag stands) OR SUPPLY spent (night energy used) + what persists must EARN it: occupancy resets to baseline, only CEILINGS carry; + unspent tags carry to next night; material recycles, ENERGY does not (arrow of time) +RULE the system ACTS LOCALLY (DAY, local components) and CONSOLIDATES HIERARCHICALLY (NIGHT) +FLOWS every flow has a timescale; shipment is transit-delayed (distal fills over cycles) +LOCAL every group uses only own state + arrived signals; RECEIVE/EMIT are the only crossings +```