Deciphering the peculiarities of cell types in the septum.

Similar to other brain regions, the neurons in the lateral septum (LS) are of heterogeneous populations. However, their resting membrane potential (RMP) on average is not too far apart. Cells were characterized based on biological markers by using brain slices, as under these in vitro conditions, neurons retain their morphologies.

Conditioning and pseudoconditioning differently change intrinsic excitability of inhibitory interneurons in the neocortex.

Many studies indicate a broad role of various classes of GABAergic interneurons in the processes related to learning. However, little is known about how the learning process affects intrinsic excitability of specific classes of interneurons in the neocortex. To determine this, we employed a simple model of conditional learning in mice where vibrissae stimulation was used as a conditioned stimulus and a tail shock as an unconditioned one.

Somatostatin-expressing interneurons modulate neocortical network through GABAb receptors in a synapse-specific manner.

The firing activity of somatostatin-expressing inhibitory neurons (SST-INs) can suppress network activity via both GABAa and GABAb receptors (Rs). Although SST-INs do not receive GABAaR input from other SST-INs, it is possible that SST-IN-released GABA could suppress the activity of SST-INs themselves via GABAbRs, providing a negative feedback loop. Here we characterized the influence of GABAbR modulation on SST-IN activity in layer 2/3 of the somatosensory cortex in mice.

Learning-induced plasticity in the barrel cortex is disrupted by inhibition of layer 4 somatostatin-containing interneurons.

Gaba-ergic neurons are a diverse cell class with extensive influence over cortical processing, but their role in experience-dependent plasticity is not completely understood. Here we addressed the role of cortical somatostatin- (SOM-INs) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide- (VIP-INs) containing interneurons in a Pavlovian conditioning where stimulation of the vibrissae is used as a conditioned stimulus and tail shock as unconditioned one. This procedure induces a plastic change observed as an enlargement of the cortical functional representation of vibrissae activated during conditioning.