Visual Processing by Calretinin Expressing Inhibitory Neurons in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex

Daniela Camillo, Mehran Ahmadlou, M. Hadi Saiepour, Maryam Yasaminshirazi, Christiaan N. Levelt, J. Alexander Heimel*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Inhibition in the cerebral cortex is delivered by a variety of GABAergic interneurons. These cells have been categorized by their morphology, physiology, gene expression and connectivity. Many of these classes appear to be conserved across species, suggesting that the classes play specific functional roles in cortical processing. What these functions are, is still largely unknown. The largest group of interneurons in the upper layers of mouse primary visual cortex (V1) is formed by cells expressing the calcium-binding protein calretinin (CR). This heterogeneous class contains subsets of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) interneurons and somatostatin (SOM) interneurons. Here we show, using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in mice, that CR neurons can be sensitive to stimulus orientation, but that they are less selective on average than the overall neuronal population. Responses of CR neurons are suppressed by a surrounding stimulus, but less so than the overall population. In rats and primates, CR interneurons have been suggested to provide disinhibition, but we found that in mice their in vivo activation by optogenetics causes a net inhibition of cortical activity. Our results show that the average functional properties of CR interneurons are distinct from the averages of the parvalbumin, SOM and VIP interneuron populations.

Original languageEnglish
Article number12355
JournalScientific Reports
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2018
Externally publishedYes

Funding

We thank Steve Van Hooser for sharing software, and we gratefully acknowledge Vivek Jayaraman, Rex Kerr, Douglas Kim, Loren Looger and Karel Svoboda from the GENIE Project, Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute for making the GCaMP6s vector available. We are grateful to Josh Huang and his colleagues from the NIH Neuroscience Blueprint Cre Driver Network for making their mouse lines available. D.C., M.A. and J.A.H. were supported by NWO VIDI Grant 864.10.010.

FundersFunder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek864.10.010
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Visual Processing by Calretinin Expressing Inhibitory Neurons in Mouse Primary Visual Cortex'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this