Inhibitory synaptic plasticity during learning

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Abstract What are the neural circuits by which the brain differentiates between incidental and meaningful environmental inputs to enable long-lasting changes in sensation and behavior? Experimental evidence indicates that this distinction may be made at the earliest stages of cortical processing, in primary sensory cortex. Here we will use high-throughput, automated behavioral training in freely-moving mice to determine how the detailed neural circuitry of the cerebral cortex is distinctly changed during acquisition of a tactile reward-based association. Our preliminary data indicate that long-lasting modifications in parvalbumin (PV)-mediated synaptic inhibition is selectively driven by sensory association training but not passive sensory exposure, providing a foothold to investigate the cellular circuitry that distinguishes between different types of experience-dependent plasticity. Using in vivo Ca imaging, targeted electrophysiological recordings and anatomical analyses, we will determine the mechanisms by which specific neural subtypes facilitate learning-related reorganization of the cortical column.