Abstract:
The spatial organization of a neuronal circuit is critically important for its function since the location of neurons is often associated with function. In the cerebellum, the major output of the cerebellar cortex are synapses made from Purkinje cells onto neurons in the cerebellar nuclei, yet little has been known about the spatial organization of these synapses. We explored this question using whole-cell electrophysiology and optogenetics in acute sagittal cerebellar slices to produce spatial connectivity maps of cerebellar cortical output in mice. We observed non-random connectivity where Purkinje cell inputs clustered in cerebellar transverse zones: while many nuclear neurons received inputs from a single zone, several multi-zonal connectivity motifs were also observed. Single neurons receiving input from all four zones were overrepresented in our data. These findings reveal that the output of the cerebellar cortex is spatially structured and represents a locus for multimodal integration in the cerebellum.
摘要:
神经元回路的空间组织对于其功能至关重要,因为神经元的位置通常与功能相关。在小脑,小脑皮质的主要输出是由浦肯野细胞形成的突触到小脑核中的神经元上,然而,对这些突触的空间组织知之甚少。我们在急性矢状小脑切片中使用全细胞电生理学和光遗传学来探索这个问题,以产生小鼠小脑皮质输出的空间连接图。我们观察到浦肯野细胞输入聚集在小脑横区的非随机连通性:而许多核神经元从单个区域接收输入,还观察到几个多区域连接基序。从所有四个区域接收输入的单个神经元在我们的数据中被过多地表示。这些发现表明,小脑皮层的输出是空间结构的,代表了小脑中多模态整合的轨迹。