Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
Department of Systems Neurophysiology, Institute for Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Nat Neurosci. 2023 Mar;26(3):495-505. doi: 10.1038/s41593-022-01245-9. Epub 2023 Jan 23.
Understanding how cortical circuits generate complex behavior requires investigating the cell types that comprise them. Functional differences across pyramidal neuron (PyN) types have been observed within cortical areas, but it is not known whether these local differences extend throughout the cortex, nor whether additional differences emerge when larger-scale dynamics are considered. We used genetic and retrograde labeling to target pyramidal tract, intratelencephalic and corticostriatal projection neurons and measured their cortex-wide activity. Each PyN type drove unique neural dynamics, both at the local and cortex-wide scales. Cortical activity and optogenetic inactivation during an auditory decision task revealed distinct functional roles. All PyNs in parietal cortex were recruited during perception of the auditory stimulus, but, surprisingly, pyramidal tract neurons had the largest causal role. In frontal cortex, all PyNs were required for accurate choices but showed distinct choice tuning. Our results reveal that rich, cell-type-specific cortical dynamics shape perceptual decisions.
理解皮质电路如何产生复杂行为需要研究构成它们的细胞类型。在皮质区域内已经观察到不同的锥体神经元（PyN）类型之间的功能差异，但尚不清楚这些局部差异是否会扩展到整个皮质，或者在考虑更大规模的动力学时是否会出现其他差异。我们使用遗传和逆行标记来靶向锥体束、内脑和皮质纹状体投射神经元，并测量它们的全皮质活动。每种 PyN 类型都在局部和全皮质范围内驱动独特的神经动力学。在听觉决策任务期间的皮质活动和光遗传学失活揭示了不同的功能作用。顶叶皮层中的所有 PyN 在听觉刺激的感知过程中都被招募，但令人惊讶的是，锥体束神经元具有最大的因果作用。在额皮质中，所有 PyN 都需要进行准确的选择，但表现出不同的选择调谐。我们的结果表明，丰富的、细胞类型特异性的皮质动力学塑造了感知决策。
