Forebrain E-I balance controlled in cognition through coordinated inhibition and inhibitory transcriptome mechanism.

Introduction: Forebrain neural networks are vital for cognitive functioning, and their excitatory-inhibitory (E-I) balance is governed by neural homeostasis. However, the homeostatic control strategies and transcriptomic mechanisms that maintain forebrain E-I balance and optimal cognition remain unclear.

Methods: We used patch-clamp and RNA sequencing to investigate the patterns of neural network homeostasis with suppressing forebrain excitatory neural activity and spatial training.

Results: We found that inhibitory transmission and receptor transcription were reduced in tamoxifen-inducible Kir2.1 conditional knock-in mice. In contrast, spatial training increased inhibitory synaptic connections and the transcription of inhibitory receptors.

Discussion: Our study provides significant evidence that inhibitory systems play a critical role in the homeostatic control of the E-I balance in the forebrain during cognitive training and E-I rebalance, and we have provided insights into multiple gene candidates for cognition-related homeostasis in the forebrain.