| First Author | Yang J | Year | 2022 |
| Journal | Neuron | Volume | 110 |
| Issue | 20 | Pages | 3339-3355.e8 |
| PubMed ID | 36099920 | Mgi Jnum | J:330176 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7366867 | Doi | 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.08.018 |
| Citation | Yang J, et al. (2022) Functionally distinct NPAS4-expressing somatostatin interneuron ensembles critical for motor skill learning. Neuron 110(20):3339-3355.e8 |
| abstractText | During motor learning, dendritic spines on pyramidal neurons (PNs) in the primary motor cortex (M1) undergo reorganization. Intriguingly, the inhibition from local somatostatin-expressing inhibitory neurons (SST-INs) plays an important role in regulating the PN plasticity and thus new motor skill acquisition. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process remain unclear. Here, we identified that the early-response transcription factor, NPAS4, is selectively expressed in SST-INs during motor learning. By utilizing in vivo two-photon imaging in mice, we found that cell-type-specific deletion of Npas4 in M1 disrupted learning-induced spine reorganization among PNs and impaired motor learning. In addition, NPAS4-expressing SST-INs exhibited lower neuronal activity during task-related movements, and chemogenetically increasing the activity of NPAS4-expressing ensembles was sufficient to mimic the effects of Npas4 deletion. Together, our results reveal an instructive role of NPAS4-expressing SST-INs in modulating the inhibition to downstream task-related PNs to allow proper spine reorganization that is critical for motor learning. |
