Published in

Society for Neuroscience, Journal of Neuroscience, 37(31), p. 13260-13271, 2011

DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3131-11.2011

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Dense, unspecific connectivity of neocortical parvalbumin-positive interneurons: a canonical microcircuit for inhibition?

Journal article published in 2011 by Adam M. Packer ORCID, Rafael Yuste
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

GABAergic interneurons play a major role in the function of the mammalian neocortex, but their circuit connectivity is still poorly understood. We used two-photon RuBi-Glutamate uncaging to optically map how the largest population of cortical interneurons, the parvalbumin-positive cells (PV+), are connected to pyramidal cells (PCs) in mouse neocortex. We found locally dense connectivity from PV+ interneurons onto PCs across cortical areas and layers. In many experiments, all nearby PV+ cells were connected to every local PC sampled. In agreement with this, we found no evidence for connection specificity, as PV+ interneurons contacted PC pairs similarly regardless of whether they were synaptically connected or not. We conclude that the microcircuit architecture for PV+ interneurons, and probably neocortical inhibition in general, is an unspecific, densely homogenous matrix covering all nearby pyramidal cells.