title: Activation of specific interneurons improves V1 feature selectivity and visual perception.
abstract: Inhibitory interneurons are essential components of the neural circuits underlying various brain functions. In the neocortex, a large diversity of GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) interneurons has been identified on the basis of their morphology, molecular markers, biophysical properties and innervation pattern. However, how the activity of each subtype of interneurons contributes to sensory processing remains unclear. Here we show that optogenetic activation of parvalbumin-positive (PV+) interneurons in the mouse primary visual cortex (V1) sharpens neuronal feature selectivity and improves perceptual discrimination. Using multichannel recording with silicon probes and channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2)-mediated optical activation, we found that increased spiking of PV+ interneurons markedly sharpened orientation tuning and enhanced direction selectivity of nearby neurons. These effects were caused by the activation of inhibitory neurons rather than a decreased spiking of excitatory neurons, as archaerhodopsin-3 (Arch)-mediated optical silencing of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα (CAMKIIα)-positive excitatory neurons caused no significant change in V1 stimulus selectivity. Moreover, the improved selectivity specifically required PV+ neuron activation, as activating somatostatin or vasointestinal peptide interneurons had no significant effect. Notably, PV+ neuron activation in awake mice caused a significant improvement in their orientation discrimination, mirroring the sharpened V1 orientation tuning. Together, these results provide the first demonstration that visual coding and perception can be improved by increased spiking of a specific subtype of cortical inhibitory interneurons.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurobiology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Seung-Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Alex C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: Siyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Phoumthipphavong
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Flannery
authors.forename: Sotiris C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Masmanidis
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Z Josh
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Edward S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Boyden
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deisseroth
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2 / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000075402:Channelrhodopsins; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D010320:Parvalbumins / Q000378:metabolism; D025604:Rhodopsins, Microbial / Q000378:metabolism; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000075402:Channelrhodopsins; D010320:Parvalbumins; D025604:Rhodopsins, Microbial; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2; C517671:Camk2a protein, mouse