Alternation of Neuronal Feature Selectivity Induced by Paired Optogenetic-Mechanical Stimulation in the Barrel Cortex

• Published in: Frontiers in neural circuits Vol. 15; p. 708459
• Main Authors: Cheng, Yu-Po, Huang, Jian-Jia, Yeh, Chun-I, Pei, Yu-Cheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 01.09.2021; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Animals; barrel cortex; Cortex (barrel); Cortex (somatosensory); Experiments; Mechanical stimuli; Neural plasticity; neuromodulation; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; neuroplasticity; Neuroscience; optogenetic; Optogenetics; Physical Stimulation; single unit; Somatosensory Cortex; Vibrissae; United States > US; Taiwan; barrel cortex; neuromodulation; single unit; optogenetic; neuroplasticity
• ISSN: 1662-5110; 1662-5110
• DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2021.708459

Paired stimulation has been applied to modulate neuronal functions in the primary somatosensory cortex but its utility in the alternation of tuning function, such as direction tuning for whisker stimuli, remains unclear. In the present study, we attempted to manipulate feature preferences in barrel cortical neurons using repetitive paired whisker deflection combined with optogenetic stimulation and to obtain optimal parameters that can induce neuroplasticity. We found no significant response changes across stimulus parameters, such as onset asynchronies and paired directions. Only when paired stimulation was applied in the nonpreferred direction of the principal whisker of a neuron, were the neuron's responses enhanced in that direction. Importantly, this effect was only observed when the optogenetic stimulus preceded the mechanical stimulus. Our findings indicate that repetitive paired optogenetic-mechanical stimulation can induce neuroplasticity of feature selectivity in limited situations.