title: A population of gap junction-coupled neurons drives recurrent network activity in a developing visual circuit.
abstract: In many regions of the vertebrate brain, microcircuits generate local recurrent activity that aids in the processing and encoding of incoming afferent inputs. Local recurrent activity can amplify, filter, and temporally and spatially parse out incoming input. Determining how these microcircuits function is of great interest because it provides glimpses into fundamental processes underlying brain computation. Within the Xenopus tadpole optic tectum, deep layer neurons display robust recurrent activity. Although the development and plasticity of this local recurrent activity has been well described, the underlying microcircuitry is not well understood. Here, using a whole brain preparation that allows for whole cell recording from neurons of the superficial tectal layers, we identified a physiologically distinct population of excitatory neurons that are gap junctionally coupled and through this coupling gate local recurrent network activity. Our findings provide a novel role for neuronal coupling among excitatory interneurons in the temporal processing of visual stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming; and.
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ciarleglio
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming; and.
authors.forename: Ali S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hamodi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Carlos D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Aizenman
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming; and kpratt4@uwyo.edu.
authors.forename: Kara G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Pratt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception; D014981:Xenopus
keywords: Xenopus tadpole; gap junctions; microcircuit; optic tectum; recurrent activity