Autapses enhance bursting and coincidence detection in neocortical pyramidal cells

Luping Yin, Rui Zheng, Wei Ke, Quansheng He, Yi Zhang, Junlong Li, Bo Wang, Zhen Mi, Yue-sheng Long, Malte J. Rasch, Tianfu Li, Guoming Luan and Yousheng Shu ()
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Luping Yin: Beijing Normal University
Rui Zheng: Beijing Normal University
Wei Ke: Beijing Normal University
Quansheng He: Beijing Normal University
Yi Zhang: Beijing Normal University
Junlong Li: Beijing Normal University
Bo Wang: Beijing Normal University
Zhen Mi: Beijing Normal University
Yue-sheng Long: Institute of Neuroscience and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University
Malte J. Rasch: Beijing Normal University
Tianfu Li: Capital Medical University
Guoming Luan: Capital Medical University
Yousheng Shu: Beijing Normal University

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Autapses are synaptic contacts of a neuron’s axon onto its own dendrite and soma. In the neocortex, self-inhibiting autapses in GABAergic interneurons are abundant in number and play critical roles in regulating spike precision and network activity. Here we examine whether the principal glutamatergic pyramidal cells (PCs) also form functional autapses. In patch-clamp recording from both rodent and human PCs, we isolated autaptic responses and found that these occur predominantly in layer-5 PCs projecting to subcortical regions, with very few in those projecting to contralateral prefrontal cortex and layer 2/3 PCs. Moreover, PC autapses persist during development into adulthood. Surprisingly, they produce giant postsynaptic responses (∼5 fold greater than recurrent PC-PC synapses) that are exclusively mediated by AMPA receptors. Upon activation, autapses enhance burst firing, neuronal responsiveness and coincidence detection of synaptic inputs. These findings indicate that PC autapses are functional and represent an important circuit element in the neocortex.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07317-4

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