| First Author | Chen SX | Year | 2015 |
| Journal | Nat Neurosci | Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | 1109-15 |
| PubMed ID | 26098758 | Mgi Jnum | J:358662 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6211053 | Doi | 10.1038/nn.4049 |
| Citation | Chen SX, et al. (2015) Subtype-specific plasticity of inhibitory circuits in motor cortex during motor learning. Nat Neurosci 18(8):1109-15 |
| abstractText | Motor skill learning induces long-lasting reorganization of dendritic spines, principal sites of excitatory synapses, in the motor cortex. However, mechanisms that regulate these excitatory synaptic changes remain poorly understood. Here, using in vivo two-photon imaging in awake mice, we found that learning-induced spine reorganization of layer (L) 2/3 excitatory neurons occurs in the distal branches of their apical dendrites in L1 but not in the perisomatic dendrites. This compartment-specific spine reorganization coincided with subtype-specific plasticity of local inhibitory circuits. Somatostatin-expressing inhibitory neurons (SOM-INs), which mainly inhibit distal dendrites of excitatory neurons, showed a decrease in axonal boutons immediately after the training began, whereas parvalbumin-expressing inhibitory neurons (PV-INs), which mainly inhibit perisomatic regions of excitatory neurons, exhibited a gradual increase in axonal boutons during training. Optogenetic enhancement and suppression of SOM-IN activity during training destabilized and hyperstabilized spines, respectively, and both manipulations impaired the learning of stereotyped movements. Our results identify SOM inhibition of distal dendrites as a key regulator of learning-related changes in excitatory synapses and the acquisition of motor skills. |
