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Layer-Specific Inhibitory Microcircuits of Layer 6 Interneurons in Rat Prefrontal Cortex
Journal article

Layer-Specific Inhibitory Microcircuits of Layer 6 Interneurons in Rat Prefrontal Cortex

  • Ding, Chao ORCID Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-10 Function of Cortical Microcircuits Group, Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
  • Emmenegger, Vishalini ORCID Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Basel, Switzerland
  • Schaffrath, Kim Department of Ophthalmology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Medical School, 52074 Aachen, Germany
  • Feldmeyer, Dirk ORCID JARA-Translational Brain Medicine, 52074 Aachen, Germany
  • 2020-8-22
Published in:
  • Cerebral Cortex. - Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2020
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
English Abstract
GABAergic interneurons in different cortical areas play important roles in diverse higher-order cognitive functions. The heterogeneity of interneurons is well characterized in different sensory cortices, in particular in primary somatosensory and visual cortex. However, the structural and functional properties of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) interneurons have received less attention. In this study, a cluster analysis based on axonal projection patterns revealed four distinct clusters of L6 interneurons in rat mPFC: Cluster 1 interneurons showed axonal projections similar to Martinotti-like cells extending to layer 1, cluster 2 displayed translaminar projections mostly to layer 5, and cluster 3 interneuron axons were confined to the layer 6, whereas those of cluster 4 interneurons extend also into the white matter. Correlations were found between neuron location and axonal distribution in all clusters. Moreover, all cluster 1 L6 interneurons showed a monotonically adapting firing pattern with an initial high-frequency burst. All cluster 2 interneurons were fast-spiking, while neurons in cluster 3 and 4 showed heterogeneous firing patterns. Our data suggest that L6 interneurons that have distinct morphological and physiological characteristics are likely to innervate different targets in mPFC and thus play differential roles in the L6 microcircuitry and in mPFC-associated functions.
Language
  • English
Open access status
hybrid
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/267622
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