Behavioral State-Dependent Modulation of Prefrontal Cortex Activity by Respiration.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is crucial for cognitive and emotional regulation.
• Respiration-rhythmic oscillations in the mPFC influence local neural activity, coordinating gamma oscillations and single-unit discharges.
• The behavioral state-dependent modulation of this respiration entrainment within the mPFC network remains largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how respiration entrainment of the mouse mPFC network differs across distinct behavioral states.
• To compare the entrainment of local field potential and spiking activity by respiration during home cage immobility, stress, and reward consumption.

Main Methods:

• Electrophysiological recordings of local field potential and single-unit activity in the mouse mPFC.
• Comparison of respiration entrainment across three behavioral states: home cage (HC), tail suspension (TS), and reward consumption (Rew).
• Analysis of phase-coupling between neuronal activity and respiration, examining cell types and cortical layers.

Main Results:

• Respiration-driven rhythms were present in all tested behavioral states.
• Prefrontal gamma oscillations showed stronger respiration entrainment during home cage immobility compared to stress or reward states.
• Neuronal spikes from pyramidal cells and interneurons exhibited state-dependent respiration phase-coupling, with superficial layer recruitment during stress.

Conclusions:

• Respiration dynamically entrains prefrontal neuronal activity in a behavior- and cell-type-dependent manner.
• These findings offer novel insights into the complex modulation of mPFC activity patterns by rhythmic breathing.
• Understanding respiration's role in mPFC function is essential for deciphering neural regulation in cognitive and emotional behaviors.