Coherent cortical representations develop after experience via feedforward-recurrent circuit alignment.

Sensory cortical areas guide behavior by transforming stimulus-driven inputs into selective responses representing relevant features. A classic example is the representation of edge orientations in the visual cortex , where layer 4 (L4) neurons co-activated by an orientation provide feedforward inputs to specific functional modules in layer 2/3 (L2/3) that share strong recurrent connections . The aligned state of feedforward-recurrent interactions is critical for amplifying selective cortical responses , but how it develops remains unclear.

Chronic pregabalin treatment decreases excitability of dentate gyrus and accelerates maturation of adult-born granule cells.

Pregabalin (PGB) is extensively prescribed to treat neurological and neuropsychiatrical conditions such as neuropathic pain, anxiety disorders, and epilepsy. Although PGB is known to bind selectively to the α2δ subunit of voltage-gated calcium channels, there is little understanding about how it exerts its therapeutic effects. In this article, we analyzed the effects of an in vivo chronic treatment with PGB over the physiology of dentate gyrus granule cells (DGGCs) using ex vivo electrophysiological and morphological analysis in adult mice.