Audio-visual experience strengthens multisensory assemblies in adult mouse visual cortex

Thomas Knöpfel, Yann Sweeney, Carola I. Radulescu, Nawal Zabouri, Nazanin Doostdar, Claudia Clopath and Samuel J. Barnes ()
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Thomas Knöpfel: Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College
Yann Sweeney: Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus
Carola I. Radulescu: Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital Campus
Nawal Zabouri: Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital Campus
Nazanin Doostdar: Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital Campus
Claudia Clopath: Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus
Samuel J. Barnes: Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital Campus

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract We experience the world through multiple senses simultaneously. To better understand mechanisms of multisensory processing we ask whether inputs from two senses (auditory and visual) can interact and drive plasticity in neural-circuits of the primary visual cortex (V1). Using genetically-encoded voltage and calcium indicators, we find coincident audio-visual experience modifies both the supra and subthreshold response properties of neurons in L2/3 of mouse V1. Specifically, we find that after audio-visual pairing, a subset of multimodal neurons develops enhanced auditory responses to the paired auditory stimulus. This cross-modal plasticity persists over days and is reflected in the strengthening of small functional networks of L2/3 neurons. We find V1 processes coincident auditory and visual events by strengthening functional associations between feature specific assemblies of multimodal neurons during bouts of sensory driven co-activity, leaving a trace of multisensory experience in the cortical network.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13607-2

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