| First Author | Hashimoto A | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | Cell Rep | Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 112383 |
| PubMed ID | 37086724 | Mgi Jnum | J:335874 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7485660 | Doi | 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112383 |
| Citation | Hashimoto A, et al. (2023) Microglia enable cross-modal plasticity by removing inhibitory synapses. Cell Rep :112383 |
| abstractText | Cross-modal plasticity is the repurposing of brain regions associated with deprived sensory inputs to improve the capacity of other sensory modalities. The functional mechanisms of cross-modal plasticity can indicate how the brain recovers from various forms of injury and how different sensory modalities are integrated. Here, we demonstrate that rewiring of the microglia-mediated local circuit synapse is crucial for cross-modal plasticity induced by visual deprivation (monocular deprivation [MD]). MD relieves the usual inhibition of functional connectivity between the somatosensory cortex and secondary lateral visual cortex (V2L). This results in enhanced excitatory responses in V2L neurons during whisker stimulation and a greater capacity for vibrissae sensory discrimination. The enhanced cross-modal response is mediated by selective removal of inhibitory synapse terminals on pyramidal neurons by the microglia in the V2L via matrix metalloproteinase 9 signaling. Our results provide insights into how cortical circuits integrate different inputs to functionally compensate for neuronal damage. |
