Opening holes in the blanket of inhibition: Localized lateral disinhibition by vip interneurons

Mahesh M. Karnani*, Jesse Jackson, Inbal Ayzenshtat, Xazadeh Hamzehei Sichani, Kasra Manoocheri, Samuel Kim, Rafael Yuste

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Inhibitory interneurons in the neocortex often connect in a promiscuous and extensive fashion, extending a “blanket of inhibition” on the circuit. This raises the problem of how can excitatory activity propagate in the midst of this widespread inhibition. One solution to this problem could be the vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) interneurons, which disinhibit other interneurons. To explore how VIP interneurons affect the local circuits, we use two-photon optogenetics to activate them individually in mouse visual cortex in vivo while measuring their output with two-photon calcium imaging. We find that VIP interneurons have narrow axons and inhibit nearby somatostatin interneurons, which themselves inhibit pyramidal cells. Moreover, via this lateral disinhibition, VIP cells in vivo make local and transient “holes” in the inhibitory blanket extended by SOM cells. VIP interneurons, themselves regulated by neuromodulators, may therefore enable selective patterns of activity to propagate through the cortex, by generating a “spotlight of attention”.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3471-3480
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Neuroscience
Volume36
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Mar 2016
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was funded by NIH R01EY011787 and DP1EY024503, NIMH (R01MH101218, R01MH100561), DARPA SIMPLEX n66001-15-C-4032M, and ARO W911NF-12-1-0594(MURI) to R.Y., HFSP long-term fellowship to M.M.K., Canadian Institute for Health Research fellowship to J.J. and Marie Curie IOF to I.A. We thank Darcy Peterka, Benjamin Shababo, Yeonsook Shin, Alexa Semonche, and Weijian Yang for technical assistance.

Keywords

  • Disinhibition
  • Interneuron
  • Neocortex
  • Vasoactive intestinal peptide
  • VIP

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Opening holes in the blanket of inhibition: Localized lateral disinhibition by vip interneurons'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this