Maintenance of persistent activity in a frontal thalamocortical loop

Zengcai V. Guo, Hidehiko K. Inagaki, Kayvon Daie, Shaul Druckmann, Charles R. Gerfen and Karel Svoboda ()
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Zengcai V. Guo: Janelia Research Campus, HHMI
Hidehiko K. Inagaki: Janelia Research Campus, HHMI
Kayvon Daie: Janelia Research Campus, HHMI
Shaul Druckmann: Janelia Research Campus, HHMI
Charles R. Gerfen: Laboratory of Systems Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health
Karel Svoboda: Janelia Research Campus, HHMI

Nature, 2017, vol. 545, issue 7653, 181-186

Abstract: Abstract Persistent neural activity maintains information that connects past and future events. Models of persistent activity often invoke reverberations within local cortical circuits, but long-range circuits could also contribute. Neurons in the mouse anterior lateral motor cortex (ALM) have been shown to have selective persistent activity that instructs future actions. The ALM is connected bidirectionally with parts of the thalamus, including the ventral medial and ventral anterior–lateral nuclei. We recorded spikes from the ALM and thalamus during tactile discrimination with a delayed directional response. Here we show that, similar to ALM neurons, thalamic neurons exhibited selective persistent delay activity that predicted movement direction. Unilateral photoinhibition of delay activity in the ALM or thalamus produced contralesional neglect. Photoinhibition of the thalamus caused a short-latency and near-complete collapse of ALM activity. Similarly, photoinhibition of the ALM diminished thalamic activity. Our results show that the thalamus is a circuit hub in motor preparation and suggest that persistent activity requires reciprocal excitation across multiple brain areas.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/nature22324

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