RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Synaptic Basis for Contrast-Dependent Shifts in Functional Identity in Mouse V1
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0480-18.2019
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0480-18.2019
VO 6
IS 2
A1 Molis Yunzab
A1 Veronica Choi
A1 Hamish Meffin
A1 Shaun L. Cloherty
A1 Nicholas J. Priebe
A1 Michael R. Ibbotson
YR 2019
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/6/2/ENEURO.0480-18.2019.abstract
AB A central transformation that occurs within mammalian visual cortex is the change from linear, polarity-sensitive responses to nonlinear, polarity-insensitive responses. These neurons are classically labelled as either simple or complex, respectively, on the basis of their response linearity (Skottun et al., 1991). While the difference between cell classes is clear when the stimulus strength is high, reducing stimulus strength diminishes the differences between the cell types and causes some complex cells to respond as simple cells (Crowder et al., 2007; van Kleef et al., 2010; Hietanen et al., 2013). To understand the synaptic basis for this shift in behavior, we used in vivo whole-cell recordings while systematically shifting stimulus contrast. We find systematic shifts in the degree of complex cell responses in mouse primary visual cortex (V1) at the subthreshold level, demonstrating that synaptic inputs change in concert with the shifts in response linearity and that the change in response linearity is not simply due to the threshold nonlinearity. These shifts are consistent with a visual cortex model in which the recurrent amplification acts as a critical component in the generation of complex cell responses (Chance et al., 1999).