Cell-type specific responses to associative learning in the primary motor cortex
The primary motor cortex (M1) is known to be a critical site for movement initiation and motor learning. Surprisingly, it has also been shown to possess reward-related activity, presumably to facilitate reward-based learning of new movements. However, it is unclear whether and how reward-related signals are represented among different cell types in M1 during learning, and which brain regions might confer this information to M1. Using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in head-fixed mice during an associative learning task, we found that both VIP+ and PV+ inhibitory neurons were responsive to reward and reward-related cues. After learning, VIP+ cells became preferentially more responsive to reward while PV+ cells became more responsive to reward-related cues. In addition, we utilized a monosynaptic rabies tracing strategy to generate a brain-wide map of long-range input to VIP, PV, and SST inhibitory neurons as well as pyramidal neurons, to identify brain regions that might confer reward-related activity to VIP+ cells in M1. Together, this work uncovers neural circuits involved in modulating M1 activity in response to reward.
Date: 16 September 2022, 11:00
Venue: Sherrington Building, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details: Sherrington Room (second floor)
Speaker: Candice Lee (Laboratory of Simon Chen, University of Ottawa)
Organising department: Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organiser: Professor Randy Bruno (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: randy.bruno@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Randy Bruno (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Part of: Neuroscience Theme Guest Speakers (DPAG)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Talitha Smith