Changes in pairwise correlations during running reshape global network state in the main olfactory bulb

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Sensory Processing
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Spontaneous neural activity patterns are hypothesized to encode sensory information.
• Understanding these patterns in the olfactory system is crucial for deciphering odor perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the structure of spontaneous neural activity in the main olfactory bulb.
• To determine how locomotion affects neural population dynamics and functional interactions.

Main Methods:

• High-density electrophysiological recordings of neural populations in awake mice.
• Analysis of pairwise correlations and entropy of spontaneous activity in mitral and tufted (M/T) cells.
• Comparison of population activity models during stationary versus running states.

Main Results:

• Running increased pairwise correlations and population entropy of M/T cell activity.
• Simple pairwise models predicted stationary activity better than running activity.
• Higher-order neural interactions appear dominant during locomotion.

Conclusions:

• Locomotion dynamically alters functional interactions shaping spontaneous activity in the olfactory bulb.
• Behavioral state adaptively modifies the neural coding space for sensory representations.
• Neuronal activity at the earliest olfactory processing stage is flexibly modulated by behavior.