Topic: GCaMP7s

Sensorimotor learning and adaptation are key cognitive functions that form the hallmark of biological intelligence. Both processes have long been hypothesized to rely on two critical mechanisms: intrinsic plasticity (IP) within individual neurons and synaptic plasticity (SP) between neurons. Multiple forms of SP have been extensively documented to explain and model experience-dependent re-organization of neural circuits that support learning and memory formation. In contrast, the role of IP – exemplified in spike frequency adaptation and after-hyperpolarization—remains largely unknown. It is b

Pyramidal neurons have prominent apical dendrites that are hypothesised to modulatesomatic output. In the visual cortex, apical dendrites may receive contextual signals via top-down inputs and local inhibition. It is not known, however, what causal effects they play indriving or suppressing somatic activity, and how they shape a neuron’s visual tuning.We recorded activity of pyramidal neurons sparsely expressing GCaMP7s in layer 5 of visualcortex in awake mice before and after pruning their apical dendrites with two-photondendrotomy. Together with the neuron’s receptive field and orientation/d