Striatum-projecting prefrontal cortex neurons support working memory maintenance

Maria Wilhelm, Yaroslav Sych, Aleksejs Fomins, José Luis Alatorre Warren, Christopher Lewis, Laia Serratosa Capdevila, Roman Boehringer, Elizabeth A. Amadei, Benjamin Grewe, Eoin C. O’Connor, Benjamin J. Hall and Fritjof Helmchen ()
Additional contact information
Maria Wilhelm: University of Zurich
Yaroslav Sych: University of Zurich
Aleksejs Fomins: University of Zurich
José Luis Alatorre Warren: University of Zurich
Christopher Lewis: University of Zurich
Laia Serratosa Capdevila: University of Zurich
Roman Boehringer: University of Zurich and ETH Zurich
Elizabeth A. Amadei: University of Zurich and ETH Zurich
Benjamin Grewe: University of Zurich and ETH Zurich
Eoin C. O’Connor: Roche Innovation Center Basel, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd
Benjamin J. Hall: Roche Innovation Center Basel, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd
Fritjof Helmchen: University of Zurich

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract Neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are functionally linked to working memory (WM) but how distinct projection pathways contribute to WM remains unclear. Based on optical recordings, optogenetic perturbations, and pharmacological interventions in male mice, we report here that dorsomedial striatum (dmStr)-projecting mPFC neurons are essential for WM maintenance, but not encoding or retrieval, in a T-maze spatial memory task. Fiber photometry of GCaMP6m-labeled mPFC→dmStr neurons revealed strongest activity during the maintenance period, and optogenetic inhibition of these neurons impaired performance only when applied during this period. Conversely, enhancing mPFC→dmStr pathway activity—via pharmacological suppression of HCN1 or by optogenetic activation during the maintenance period—alleviated WM impairment induced by NMDA receptor blockade. Moreover, cellular-resolution miniscope imaging revealed that >50% of mPFC→dmStr neurons are active during WM maintenance and that this subpopulation is distinct from neurons active during encoding and retrieval. In all task periods, neuronal sequences were evident. Striatum-projecting mPFC neurons thus critically contribute to spatial WM maintenance.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42777-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-42777-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42777-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().