Layer-specific modulation of neocortical dendritic inhibition during active wakefulness

Abstract

Layer-specific interneuron activity Somatostatin-expressing interneurons are an important group of inhibitory neurons in the brain that target and thus control the dendrites of pyramidal cells. These interneurons have recently been shown to play a role in sensorimotor integration, reinforcement encoding, and selective attention. Muñoz et al. used channelrhodopsin-assisted patching to investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of neocortical dendritic inhibition in vivo. They were able to record the activity of somatostatin-expressing interneurons in all neocortical layers in behaving mice. The results provide a framework for understanding the changes in dendritic inhibition that take place in the neocortex during active behaviors. This framework is very distinct from the view obtained from previous recordings that were restricted to interneurons in the superficial layers of the neocortex. Science , this issue p. 954