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Optogenetic Mapping of Rhythmic Phase-Dependent Excitability in the Mouse Striatum
Manish Mohapatra1, James Eric Carmichael1, Kyle S Smith1
1Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover New Hampshire 03755.
Summary
Striatal neurons show rhythmic excitability fluctuations, supporting the communication through coherence hypothesis for flexible behavior. This phase-dependent response, particularly in the delta band, is crucial for striatal function.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- The striatum flexibly integrates information from various inputs to guide adaptive behaviors.
- The communication through coherence (CTC) hypothesis proposes rhythmic neural activity as a mechanism for flexible information routing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether striatal neuronal excitability fluctuates rhythmically with the local field potential (LFP) phase.
- To test a fundamental requirement for CTC in the striatum: phase-dependent neuronal responses.
Main Methods:
- Optogenetic stimulation of striatal fast-spiking parvalbumin-positive interneurons (FSIs) in awake, head-fixed mice.
- Analysis of FSI response variability across different LFP frequency bands and phases.
Main Results:
- Approximately 41.2% of FSIs exhibited significant phase-dependent excitability.
- This effect was most pronounced in the delta (2-5 Hz) frequency band, affecting 23.5% of neurons.
- The strongest phase-dependent responses showed a magnitude of 22% modulation relative to the average response.
Conclusions:
- Striatal excitability exhibits significant phase-dependence, particularly in the delta band.
- These findings support the functional relevance of striatal LFP and spike-field relationships.
- Provides proof-of-principle evidence for the feasibility of CTC mechanisms within the striatum.
