Role of the cerebello-prefrontal communication in the temporal prediction of events

One of the key feature of the cerebellar computation is its abilities to predict the sensory consequences of motor commands through the cerebro-cerebello-cortical loop. Prediction capabilities of the cerebellum extend to non-motor functions as attested by an extensive bidirectional connectivity between the cerebellum and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We hypothesize that the cerebellum make predictions based on contextual and goal-directed information enabling better integration in the PFC and an overall increase efficiency in time related actions.Our aim is to understand better the communication between the cerebellum and the mPFC during temporal related tasks. We first compared a variable to a fixed delay during an interval timing task paradigm. We performed multiunit recordings in the mPFC during the task in transgenic animal expressing Channelrhodopsin2 in Purkinje cells. We showed that variable and fixed delay display distinct behavioral and electrophysiological anticipation features. Furthermore, optogenetic stimulation of Purkinje cells altered these activities in the PFC preferentially in the fixed delay. We then set out to investigate this communication in a different paradigm involving both short (< 1s) and long (> 1s) delays. We record both in the mPFC and in the cerebellum (lateral cerebellar nuclei) in order to dissect neural dynamics at both timescale.