The downs and ups of sensory deprivation: evidence for firing rate homeostasis in vivo.

Homeostatic adjustment of neuronal firing rates is considered a vital mechanism to keep neurons operating in their optimal range despite dynamically changing input. Two studies in this issue of Neuron , Hengen et al. (2013) and Keck et al. (2013), provide evidence for firing rate homeostasis in the neocortex of freely behaving rodents.