Vision and Locomotion Shape the Interactions between Neuron Types in Mouse Visual Cortex

Summary

Cortical computation arises from the interaction of multiple neuronal types, including pyramidal (Pyr) cells and interneurons expressing Sst, Vip, or Pvalb. To study the circuit underlying such interactions, we imaged these four types of cells in mouse primary visual cortex (V1). Our recordings in darkness were consistent with a “disinhibitory” model in which locomotion activates Vip cells, thus inhibiting Sst cells and disinhibiting Pyr cells. However, the disinhibitory model failed when visual stimuli were present: locomotion increased Sst cell responses to large stimuli and Vip cell responses to small stimuli. A recurrent network model successfully predicted each cell type’s activity from the measured activity of other types. Capturing the effects of locomotion, however, required allowing it to increase feedforward synaptic weights and modulate recurrent weights. This network model summarizes interneuron interactions and suggests that locomotion may alter cortical computation by changing effective synaptic connectivity.

Highlights

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  Effects of locomotion on baseline activity and visual responses are not related

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  Locomotion effects on visual responses are diverse across stimuli and cell types

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  Pvalb, but not Sst or Vip, population activity linearly tracks pyramidal activity

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  A network model predicts each cell type’s visual responses from the other types

Abstract

Dipoppa et al. record visual responses of four types of neurons in mouse visual cortex, revealing a complex and diverse interaction between stimulus size and locomotion. A recurrent neural field model in which locomotion modulates synapses predicts each cell type’s responses.