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Updated: Jul 17, 2025

A Guide to In vivo Single-unit Recording from Optogenetically Identified Cortical Inhibitory Interneurons
Published on: November 7, 2014
VIP interneurons regulate cortical size tuning and visual perception
Katie A Ferguson1, Jenna Salameh1, Christopher Alba1
1Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
Abstract:
Cortical circuit function is regulated by extensively interconnected, diverse populations of GABAergic interneurons that may play key roles in shaping circuit operation according to behavioral context. A specialized population of interneurons that co-express vasoactive intestinal peptides (VIP-INs) are activated during arousal and innervate other INs and pyramidal neurons (PNs). Although state-dependent modulation of VIP-INs has been extensively studied, their role in regulating sensory processing is less well understood. We examined the impact of VIP-INs in the primary visual cortex of awake behaving mice. Loss of VIP-IN activity alters the behavioral state-dependent modulation of somatostatin-expressing INs (SST-INs) but not PNs. In contrast, reduced VIP-IN activity globally disrupts visual feature selectivity for stimulus size. Moreover, the impact of VIP-INs on perceptual behavior varies with context and is more acute for small than large visual cues. VIP-INs thus contribute to both state-dependent modulation of cortical activity and sensory context-dependent perceptual performance.
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