Somatostatin interneurons in auditory cortex regulate sensory representations and contribute to auditory perception

Abstract

AbstractAs a major class of inhibitory neurons in the mammalian neocortex, somatostatin (SOM)-expressing GABAergic interneurons receive diverse inputs and target multiple types of local cortical neurons, representing a critical circuit component. Yet, the precise contribution of SOM interneurons to cortical circuit function and behavioral performance remains unclear. Here we address this using cell-type specific imaging and perturbation during an auditory perceptual decision task. Two-photon calcium imaging reveals that SOM interneurons exhibit task enhanced responses and stimulus category selectivity. Simultaneous optogenetic inactivation and two-photon imaging show that SOM interneurons exert divergent effects of either sharpening the sensory tuning or scaling down the tuning peak on different proportions of auditory cortical neurons. At behavioral level, inactivation of SOM interneurons reveals a specific contribution to perceptual discriminability. Our data delineate the role of SOM interneurons in cortical processing and auditory perception, linking cell-type specific cortical circuit computations with perceptual functions.