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Single-neuron perturbations reveal feature-specific competition in V1
Selmaan N Chettih1, Christopher D Harvey2
1Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Nature
|March 8, 2019
Summary
Influence mapping directly measures how neurons change sensory representations. In the visual cortex, this revealed a "like-suppresses-like" mechanism that reduces neural redundancy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Systems Neuroscience
Background:
- Neural computations are typically inferred indirectly from connectivity and activity.
- Direct measurement of how single neurons influence others is needed to understand population dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate "influence mapping" as a method to directly measure single-neuron influence on neural representations.
- To investigate how excitatory neurons in layer 2/3 of the primary visual cortex (V1) influence their neighbors' activity.
Main Methods:
- Developed "influence mapping" using two-photon optogenetics for targeted single-neuron stimulation.
- Employed calcium imaging to record spiking activity in neighboring neurons in awake mice.
- Presented visual stimuli to mice during optogenetic perturbation and calcium imaging.
Main Results:
- Excitatory neurons in V1 layer 2/3 exhibited a center-surround influence profile, suppressing neighboring neurons.
- Neuronal influence was dependent on the similarity of activity tuning; similarly tuned neurons were suppressed more.
- Photostimulation led to a ~2% reduction in population response, particularly for the targeted neuron's preferred stimulus.
Conclusions:
- V1 layer 2/3 performs feature competition, utilizing a "like-suppresses-like" inhibition motif.
- This mechanism reduces redundancy in population activity and may aid in inferring sensory input features.
- Influence mapping is a versatile technique applicable to studying other neural populations.
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