Abstract
Pyramidal cells and GABAergic interneurons fire together in balanced cortical networks. In contrast to this general rule, we describe a distinct neuron type in mice and rats whose spiking activity is anti-correlated with all principal cells and interneurons in all brain states but, most prevalently, during the down state of non-REM (NREM) sleep. We identify these down state-active (DSA) neurons as deep-layer neocortical neurogliaform cells that express ID2 and Nkx2.1 and are weakly immunoreactive to neuronal nitric oxide synthase. DSA neurons are weakly excited by deep-layer pyramidal cells and strongly inhibited by several other GABAergic cell types. Spiking of DSA neurons modified the sequential firing order of other neurons at down–up transitions. Optogenetic activation of ID2+Nkx2.1+ interneurons in the posterior parietal cortex during NREM sleep, but not during waking, interfered with consolidation of cue discrimination memory. Despite their sparsity, DSA neurons perform critical physiological functions.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 401-411 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Nature neuroscience |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2021 |
Funding
We would like to thank L. Men\u00E9ndez de la Prida, K. McClain, D. Levenstein and A. Fern\u00E1ndez-Ruiz and the rest of the members of the Buzs\u00E1ki Laboratory for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) postdoctoral fellowship (EMBO ALTF 1161-2017), a Human Frontiers Science Program postdoctoral fellowship (LT0000717/2018) to M.V., the UK Medical Research Council (MR/R011567/1) to T.J.V., a Leon Levy Neuroscience Fellowship to I.Z., P01NS074972, R01NS110079, R01NS107257 and F31NS106793 to B.R. and NIH MH54671, NIH MH107396, NS 090583, NSF PIRE (grant no. 1545858), U19 NS107616 and U19 NS104590.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Neuroscience