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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.04.28.538791

Prefrontal projections modulate recurrent circuitry in insular cortex to support short-term memory

Yao, J.·Hou, R.·Fan, H.·Hou, J.·Cheng, Q.·Li, C. T.
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Abstract

Short-term memory (STM) maintains information during a short delay period. How long-range and local connections interact to support STM encoding remains elusive. Here we tackled the problem focusing on long-range projections from medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to anterior agranular insular cortex (aAIC) in head-fixed mice performing an olfactory delayed-response task. Optogenetic and electrophysiological experiments revealed behavioral importance of the two regions in encoding STM information. Spike-correlogram analysis revealed strong local and cross-region functional coupling (FC) between memory neurons encoding the same information. Optogenetic suppression of mPFC-aAIC projections during the delay period reduced behavioral performance, the proportion of memory neurons and memory-specific FC within aAIC, whereas optogenetic excitation enhanced all of them. MPFC-to-aAIC projections also bidirectionally modulated efficacy of STM-information transfer, measured by contribution of FC spiking pairs to coding ability of following neurons. Thus, prefrontal projections modulate functional connectivity and coding ability of insular neurons to support short-term memory.

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Yao, J., Hou, R., Fan, H., Hou, J., Cheng, Q., Li, C. T.. 2023-04-29. Prefrontal projections modulate recurrent circuitry in insular cortex to support short-term memory. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.28.538791

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