scholarly journals Precise Long-Range Microcircuit-to-Microcircuit Communication Connects the Frontal and Sensory Cortices in the Mammalian Brain

Neuron ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-401.e3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si-Qiang Ren ◽  
Zhizhong Li ◽  
Susan Lin ◽  
Matteo Bergami ◽  
Song-Hai Shi
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Sensory Cortices

scholarly journals Long-range population dynamics of anatomically defined neocortical networks

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry L Chen ◽  
Fabian F Voigt ◽  
Mitra Javadzadeh ◽  
Roland Krueppel ◽  
Fritjof Helmchen
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Calcium Imaging ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Motor Behaviors ◽  
Two Photon ◽  
Sensory Cortices

The coordination of activity across neocortical areas is essential for mammalian brain function. Understanding this process requires simultaneous functional measurements across the cortex. In order to dissociate direct cortico-cortical interactions from other sources of neuronal correlations, it is furthermore desirable to target cross-areal recordings to neuronal subpopulations that anatomically project between areas. Here, we combined anatomical tracers with a novel multi-area two-photon microscope to perform simultaneous calcium imaging across mouse primary (S1) and secondary (S2) somatosensory whisker cortex during texture discrimination behavior, specifically identifying feedforward and feedback neurons. We find that coordination of S1-S2 activity increases during motor behaviors such as goal-directed whisking and licking. This effect was not specific to identified feedforward and feedback neurons. However, these mutually projecting neurons especially participated in inter-areal coordination when motor behavior was paired with whisker-texture touches, suggesting that direct S1-S2 interactions are sensory-dependent. Our results demonstrate specific functional coordination of anatomically-identified projection neurons across sensory cortices.

scholarly journals Network mechanisms of grid cells

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1635) ◽  
pp. 20120511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edvard I. Moser ◽  
May-Britt Moser ◽  
Yasser Roudi
Keyword(s):  
Functional Organization ◽  
Cell Formation ◽  
Grid Cell ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Grid Cells ◽  
Entire Space ◽  
Competitive Network ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Firing Properties ◽  
Organizing Principles

One of the major breakthroughs in neuroscience is the emerging understanding of how signals from the external environment are extracted and represented in the primary sensory cortices of the mammalian brain. The operational principles of the rest of the cortex, however, have essentially remained in the dark. The discovery of grid cells, and their functional organization, opens the door to some of the first insights into the workings of the association cortices, at a stage of neural processing where firing properties are shaped not primarily by the nature of incoming sensory signals but rather by internal self-organizing principles. Grid cells are place-modulated neurons whose firing locations define a periodic triangular array overlaid on the entire space available to a moving animal. The unclouded firing pattern of these cells is rare within the association cortices. In this paper, we shall review recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms of grid-cell formation which suggest that the pattern originates by competitive network interactions, and we shall relate these ideas to new insights regarding the organization of grid cells into functionally segregated modules.

scholarly journals A platform for brain-wide imaging and reconstruction of individual neurons

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael N Economo ◽  
Nathan G Clack ◽  
Luke D Lavis ◽  
Charles R Gerfen ◽  
Karel Svoboda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Image Data ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Computational Tools ◽  
Two Photon ◽  
Axonal Arbors

The structure of axonal arbors controls how signals from individual neurons are routed within the mammalian brain. However, the arbors of very few long-range projection neurons have been reconstructed in their entirety, as axons with diameters as small as 100 nm arborize in target regions dispersed over many millimeters of tissue. We introduce a platform for high-resolution, three-dimensional fluorescence imaging of complete tissue volumes that enables the visualization and reconstruction of long-range axonal arbors. This platform relies on a high-speed two-photon microscope integrated with a tissue vibratome and a suite of computational tools for large-scale image data. We demonstrate the power of this approach by reconstructing the axonal arbors of multiple neurons in the motor cortex across a single mouse brain.

The first cortical circuits: Subplate neurons lead the way and shape cortical organization

Neuroforum ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick O. Kanold
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Neural Connections ◽  
Cortical Organization ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Subplate Neurons ◽  
The World ◽  
Sensory Cortices

Abstract The cerebral cortex is essential for our sensory experiences and conscious thought. Its neural connections, in particular sensory areas of the cerebral cortex, are shaped and sculpted by our early sensory experiences. Onset of these first sensory experiences of the world mark an important developmental event, enabling our worldy interactions to shape the makeup of our cerebral cortex. These long-lasting effects of early sensory experience are particularly striking in human communication, since early exposure to the mother’s language is required to detect all nuances in the underlying sounds. Early interactions with the world are mediated by a key set of neurons, subplate neurons, which remain part of the developing cerebral cortex until most of them disappear at later stages of development. They play a crucial role in the developing mammalian brain. Here I review the circuitry and functional roles of cortical subplate neurons, focusing on their purpose in the development of primary sensory cortices.

scholarly journals Prominent lateral spread of imaged evoked activity beyond cortical columns in barrel cortex provides foundation for coding whisker identity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan S. Jacobs ◽  
Ron D. Frostig
Keyword(s):  
Optical Imaging ◽  
Barrel Cortex ◽  
Classification Performance ◽  
Lateral Spread ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Intrinsic Signal ◽  
Columnar Organization ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Evoked Activity ◽  
Stimulus Classification

AbstractThe posterior medial barrel subfield (PMBSF) of rat primary somatosensory cortex exquisitely demonstrates topography and columnar organization, defining features of sensory cortices in the mammalian brain. Optical imaging and neuronal recordings in rat PMBSF demonstrates how evoked cortical activity following single whisker stimulation also rapidly spreads laterally into surrounding cortices, disregarding columnar and modality boundaries. The current study quantifies the spatial prominence of such lateral activity spreads by demonstrating that functional connectivity between laterally spaced cortical locations is actually stronger than between vertically spaced cortical locations. Further, the total amount of evoked activity within and beyond single column boundaries was quantified based on intrinsic signal optical imaging, single units and local field potentials (LFPs) recordings, revealing that the vast majority of whisker evoked activity in PMBSF occurs beyond columnar boundaries. Finally, a simple two layer artificial neural network model of PMBSF demonstrates the capacity of extra-columnar evoked activity spread to provide a foundation for accurate whisker stimulus classification that is robust to random scaling of inputs and local noise. Indeed, classification performance improved when more of the lateral spread was included in the model, providing further evidence for the relevance of the lateral spread.

scholarly journals Long-range temporal correlations in scale-free neuromorphic networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 432-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shota Shirai ◽  
Susant Kumar Acharya ◽  
Saurabh Kumar Bose ◽  
Joshua Brian Mallinson ◽  
Edoardo Galli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Neuronal Networks ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Small World ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Temporal Correlations ◽  
Significant Step ◽  
Computational Ability

Biological neuronal networks are the computing engines of the mammalian brain. These networks exhibit structural characteristics such as hierarchical architectures, small-world attributes, and scale-free topologies, providing the basis for the emergence of rich temporal characteristics such as scale-free dynamics and long-range temporal correlations. Devices that have both the topological and the temporal features of a neuronal network would be a significant step toward constructing a neuromorphic system that can emulate the computational ability and energy efficiency of the human brain. Here we use numerical simulations to show that percolating networks of nanoparticles exhibit structural properties that are reminiscent of biological neuronal networks, and then show experimentally that stimulation of percolating networks by an external voltage stimulus produces temporal dynamics that are self-similar, follow power-law scaling, and exhibit long-range temporal correlations. These results are expected to have important implications for the development of neuromorphic devices, especially for those based on the concept of reservoir computing.

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