Diversity in Excitation-Inhibition Mismatch Underlies Local Functional Heterogeneity in the Rat Auditory Cortex

Publication date: 18 April 2017
Source:Cell Reports, Volume 19, Issue 3
Author(s): Can Tao, Guangwei Zhang, Chang Zhou, Lijuan Wang, Sumei Yan, Huizhong Whit Tao, Li I. Zhang, Yi Zhou, Ying Xiong
Cortical neurons are heterogeneous in their functional properties. This heterogeneity is fundamental for the processing of different features of sensory information. However, functional diversity within a local group of neurons is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that neighboring cortical neurons in layer 5 but not those of layer 4 of the rat anterior auditory field (AAF) exhibited a surprisingly high level of diversity in tonal receptive fields. In vivo whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings revealed that the diversity of frequency representation was due to a spectral mismatch between synaptic excitation and inhibition to varying degrees. The spectral distribution of excitation was skewed at different levels, whereas inhibition was homogeneous and non-skewed, similar to the summed spiking activity of local neuronal ensembles, which further enhanced diversity. Our results indicate that AAF in the auditory cortex is involved in processing auditory information in a highly refined manner that is important for complex pattern recognition.

Graphical abstract

Teaser

Tao et al. look at how local heterogeneity is generated in the anterior auditory field using an in vivo electrophysiological approach and find that a diverse excitation-inhibition imbalance generates functional heterogeneity in L5 of the anterior auditory field.


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