Dopamine D1 receptor expression in dlPFC inhibitory parvalbumin neurons may contribute to higher visuospatial distractibility in marmosets versus macaques

Abstract

AbstractMarmosets and macaques are common non-human primate models of cognition, but evidence suggests that marmosets perform more poorly and appear more distractible during cognitive tasks. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) plays a key role in regulating attention, and prior research in macaques suggests that dopaminergic modulation and inhibitory parvalbumin (PV) neurons could contribute to distractibility during cognitive performance. Thus, we compared the two species using a visual fixation task with distractors, performed molecular and anatomical analyses of dlPFC, and linked functional microcircuitry with cognitive performance using computational modeling. We found that marmosets are more distractible than macaques, and that marmoset dlPFC PV neurons contain higher levels of dopamine-1 receptor (D1R) transcripts, similar to mice, and higher levels of D1R protein. The computational model suggested that higher D1R expression in marmoset dlPFC PV neurons may increase distractibility by suppressing dlPFC microcircuits, e.g., when dopamine is released in dlPFC to salient stimuli.