Functional synaptic interactions and inhibitory circuitry of the pre-Bötzinger complex in the rhythmic slice

The pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC) within the medulla oblongata contains neuronal circuits critical for generating the mammalian respiratory rhythm, but the functional connectivity among its core excitatory and inhibitory populations remains debated. Defining this connectivity requires disentangling synaptic interactions of functionally identified excitatory and inhibitory preBötC neurons with various electrophysiological phenotypes. We applied a novel synaptic conductance inference method to whole cell recordings from genetically specified VgluT2-expressing (excitatory) and VGAT-expressing (inhibitory) preBötC neurons active in the rhythmic medullary slice in vitro, which contains core inhibitory-excitatory circuitry with an excitatory rhythmogenic kernel. We found that this circuitry consists of a self-exciting inspiratory VgluT2 population coupled to inspiratory and expiratory VGAT populations that interact reciprocally through inhibition. The functional inhibitory connectome is more complex than previously understood. However, compared with functional synaptic interactions inferred from recordings in the preBötC in situ, the neuronal synaptic conductance profiles in the rhythmic slice reveal a functionally reduced inhibitory connectome, characterized by prominent tonic expiratory inhibition and phasic inspiratory inhibition, without the characteristic multiphasic structure in situ. These results indicate that the functional excitatory and inhibitory circuit interactions within the preBötC isolated in vitro, although reduced relative to more intact states in situ, are intrinsically designed to generate coordinated inspiratory and expiratory population activity. Tonic expiratory phase inhibition together with inspiratory phasic inhibition serves to regulate excitability and phase transitions of the excitatory rhythmogenic kernel.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study provides the first conductance-resolved mapping of synaptic interactions in genetically specified excitatory (VgluT2) and inhibitory (VGAT) pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC) neurons within the rhythmic slice. Using a novel computational inference technique, we reveal that the core functional connectome relies on a self-exciting inspiratory core coupled to a reciprocal inhibitory loop. Crucially, we quantify how the network downshifts from a complex, multiphasic architecture in situ to a simplified, binary alternating pattern in vitro.