VIP interneurons regulate cortical size tuning and visual perception
Katie A. Ferguson,
Jenna Salameh,
Christopher Alba,
Hannah Selwyn,
Clayton Barnes,
Sweyta Lohani,
Jessica A. Cardin
Affiliations
Katie A. Ferguson
Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Jenna Salameh
Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Christopher Alba
Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Hannah Selwyn
Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Clayton Barnes
Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Sweyta Lohani
Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Jessica A. Cardin
Department of Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: Cortical circuit function is regulated by extensively interconnected, diverse populations of GABAergic interneurons that may play key roles in shaping circuit operation according to behavioral context. A specialized population of interneurons that co-express vasoactive intestinal peptides (VIP-INs) are activated during arousal and innervate other INs and pyramidal neurons (PNs). Although state-dependent modulation of VIP-INs has been extensively studied, their role in regulating sensory processing is less well understood. We examined the impact of VIP-INs in the primary visual cortex of awake behaving mice. Loss of VIP-IN activity alters the behavioral state-dependent modulation of somatostatin-expressing INs (SST-INs) but not PNs. In contrast, reduced VIP-IN activity globally disrupts visual feature selectivity for stimulus size. Moreover, the impact of VIP-INs on perceptual behavior varies with context and is more acute for small than large visual cues. VIP-INs thus contribute to both state-dependent modulation of cortical activity and sensory context-dependent perceptual performance.
