| First Author | Granger AJ | Year | 2020 |
| Journal | Elife | Volume | 9 |
| PubMed ID | 32613945 | Mgi Jnum | J:291043 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6442409 | Doi | 10.7554/eLife.57749 |
| Citation | Granger AJ, et al. (2020) Cortical ChAT(+) neurons co-transmit acetylcholine and GABA in a target- and brain-region-specific manner. Elife 9:e57749 |
| abstractText | The mouse cerebral cortex contains neurons that express choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and are a potential local source of acetylcholine. However, the neurotransmitters released by cortical ChAT(+) neurons and their synaptic connectivity are unknown. We show that the nearly all cortical ChAT(+) neurons in mice are specialized VIP(+) interneurons that release GABA strongly onto other inhibitory interneurons and acetylcholine sparsely onto layer 1 interneurons and other VIP(+)/ChAT(+) interneurons. This differential transmission of ACh and GABA based on the postsynaptic target neuron is reflected in VIP(+)/ChAT(+) interneuron pre-synaptic terminals, as quantitative molecular analysis shows that only a subset of these are specialized to release acetylcholine. In addition, we identify a separate, sparse population of non-VIP ChAT(+) neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex with a distinct developmental origin that robustly release acetylcholine in layer 1. These results demonstrate both cortex-region heterogeneity in cortical ChAT(+) interneurons and target-specific co-release of acetylcholine and GABA. |
