SUBNETVIS · Identifying subtype specific networks involved in sensory representation in mouse primary visual cortex
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-04-01 → 2022-03-31
- EU contribution
- €212,934
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Identifying subtype specific networks involved in sensory representation in mouse primary visual cortex
The mammalian brain integrates sensory information to produce relevant behaviors. Understanding how the brain encodes this sensory information has been the focus of many studies in the last decades in neuroscience. These studies have found that some brain areas are specialized in sensory processing: as an example, neurons responding to specific features of visual stimuli (such as given orientation, direction, or position) were found in the visual cerebral cortex. Interestingly, the cerebral cortex is composed of a wide diversity of molecularly, structurally, and functionally distinct neuronal subtypes. This neuronal diversity appears as an important support for sensory processing with different inhibitory subtypes showing diverse modulation of visual response by learning or locomotion. However, most studies exploring the role of inhibitory neuronal subtypes in cortical computation have been limited to a few broad ‘Families’. These few broad Families of cells represent a very poor description of the tremendous number of subtypes identified by using the gene expression of cortical inhibitory neurons: about 60 ‘transcriptomic’ inhibitory subtypes were found in mouse visual cortex. It is therefore of major importance to be able to study these fine neuronal subtypes in vivo to determine how they contribute to sensory processing. To this aim we defined the following objectives: 1) Develop a method to study the in vivo properties of fine neuronal subtypes 2) Determine whether these diverse neuronal subtypes have diverse activity patterns in vivo 3) Describe the visual properties of these fine neuronal subtypes 4) Link these visual properties to their connectivity patterns
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
To produce relevant behaviors, the brain integrates and processes sensory information. Neurons in the primary visual cortex extract sensory information by responding preferentially to certain visual features. This feature preference, or tuning, is thought to arise from structured connections established between cortical neurons. Accordingly, it was found that connected neurons in the cerebral cortex share similar tuning properties. Interestingly, the neurons populating the cerebral cortex correspond to numerous neuronal subpopulations, involved in different functions. However, the functional involvement of this large neuronal diversity in cortical computation has been so far studied for a few broad neuronal subpopulations, leaving the fine subpopulations mainly unexplored. Do these poorly studied neuronal subpopulations share similar tuning properties? Is the structured connectivity giving rise to tuning subpopulation specific? I will use a new technique referred as in situ transcriptomics to study the tuning properties and locomotor modulation of the diverse neuronal subpopulations in the mouse primary visual cortex. This technique provides high throughput identification of neuronal subpopulations on fixed tissue based on the transcriptomic signature of neurons. I will thus determine the identity of in vivo recorded neurons a posteriori and decipher the relationships between cell identity and responses to visual stimuli. Combining this approach with single cell initiated monosynaptic tracing, I will then explore the link between subpopulation specific connectivity and tuning properties. This project will greatly contribute to the understanding of how cortical neuronal subpopulations interact to encode sensory information. I will perform these experiments in the Cortical Processing Laboratory at University College London, led by Professors Kenneth Harris and Matteo Carandini.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LondonCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union