Affiliation:
1. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Abstract
Both hemispheres connect with each other by excitatory callosal projections, and whether inhibitory interneurons, usually believed to have local innervation, engage in transcallosal activity modulation is unknown. Here, we used optogenetics in combination with cell-type-specific channelrhodopsin-2 expression to activate different inhibitory neuron subpopulations in the visual cortex and recorded the response of the entire visual cortex using intrinsic signal optical imaging. We found that optogenetic stimulation of inhibitory neurons reduced spontaneous activity (increase in the reflection of illumination) in the binocular area of the contralateral hemisphere, although these stimulations had different local effects ipsilaterally. The activation of contralateral interneurons differentially affected both eye responses to visual stimuli and, thus, changed ocular dominance. Optogenetic silencing of excitatory neurons affects the ipsilateral eye response and ocular dominance in the contralateral cortex to a lesser extent. Our results revealed a transcallosal effect of interneuron activation in the mouse visual cortex.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Inorganic Chemistry,Organic Chemistry,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Computer Science Applications,Spectroscopy,Molecular Biology,General Medicine,Catalysis