Dataset Information

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Input Augment the Variability of Cortical Neurons.

ABSTRACT: Neurons in the cerebral cortex respond inconsistently to a repeated sensory stimulus, yet they underlie our stable sensory experiences. Although the nature of this variability is unknown, its ubiquity has encouraged the general view that each cell produces random spike patterns that noisily represent its response rate. In contrast, here we show that reversibly inactivating distant sources of either bottom-up or top-down input to cortical visual areas in the alert primate reduces both the spike train irregularity and the trial-to-trial variability of single neurons. A simple model in which a fraction of the pre-synaptic input is silenced can reproduce this reduction in variability, provided that there exist temporal correlations primarily within, but not between, excitatory and inhibitory input pools. A large component of the variability of cortical neurons may therefore arise from synchronous input produced by signals arriving from multiple sources.

SUBMITTER: Gomez-Laberge C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5149417 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Input Augment the Variability of Cortical Neurons.

Gómez-Laberge Camille C Smolyanskaya Alexandra A Nassi Jonathan J JJ Kreiman Gabriel G Born Richard T RT

Neuron 20160714 3

Neurons in the cerebral cortex respond inconsistently to a repeated sensory stimulus, yet they underlie our stable sensory experiences. Although the nature of this variability is unknown, its ubiquity has encouraged the general view that each cell produces random spike patterns that noisily represent its response rate. In contrast, here we show that reversibly inactivating distant sources of either bottom-up or top-down input to cortical visual areas in the alert primate reduces both the spike t ...[more]

PMID: 27427459

Similar Datasets

Project description:Zolpidem, a GABAA receptor-positive modulator, is the gold-standard drug for treating insomnia. Zolpidem prolongs IPSCs to decrease sleep latency and increase sleep time, effects that depend on ?2 and/or ?3 subunit-containing receptors. Compared with natural NREM sleep, zolpidem also decreases the EEG power, an effect that depends on ?1 subunit-containing receptors, and which may make zolpidem-induced sleep less optimal. In this paper, we investigate whether zolpidem needs to potentiate only particular GABAergic pathways to induce sleep without reducing EEG power. Mice with a knock-in F77I mutation in the GABAA receptor ?2 subunit gene are zolpidem-insensitive. Using these mice, GABAA receptors in the frontal motor neocortex and hypothalamic (tuberomammillary nucleus) histaminergic-neurons of ?2I77 mice were made selectively sensitive to zolpidem by genetically swapping the ?2I77 subunits with ?2F77 subunits. When histamine neurons were made selectively zolpidem-sensitive, systemic administration of zolpidem shortened sleep latency and increased sleep time. But in contrast to the effect of zolpidem on wild-type mice, the power in the EEG spectra of NREM sleep was not decreased, suggesting that these EEG power-reducing effects of zolpidem do not depend on reduced histamine release. Selective potentiation of GABAA receptors in the frontal cortex by systemic zolpidem administration also reduced sleep latency, but less so than for histamine neurons. These results could help with the design of new sedatives that induce a more natural sleep. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:Many people who find it hard to get to sleep take sedatives. Zolpidem (Ambien) is the most widely prescribed "sleeping pill." It makes the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA work better at its receptors throughout the brain. The sleep induced by zolpidem does not resemble natural sleep because it produces a lower power in the brain waves that occur while we are sleeping. We show using mouse genetics that zolpidem only needs to work on specific parts and cell types of the brain, including histamine neurons in the hypothalamus, to induce sleep but without reducing the power of the sleep. This knowledge could help in the design of sleeping pills that induce a more natural sleep.

Dataset Information

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Input Augment the Variability of Cortical Neurons.

Publications

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Input Augment the Variability of Cortical Neurons.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure