Claustrum neurons projecting to the anterior cingulate restrict engagement during sleep and behavior

• Published in: Nature communications 2024-06, Vol.15 (1), p.5415-14, Article 5415
• Main Authors: Atlan, Gal, Matosevich, Noa, Peretz-Rivlin, Noa, Marsh-Yvgi, Idit, Zelinger, Noam, Chen, Eden, Kleinman, Timna, Bleistein, Noa, Sheinbach, Efrat, Groysman, Maya, Nir, Yuval, Citri, Ami
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 13/1; 13/44; 13/51; 14/63; 38; 38/35; 631/378/1385/1814; 631/378/2629/1409; 631/378/2649/1310; 631/378/3920; 64/60; 9/26; Animals; Attention - physiology; Attention task; Basal ganglia; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Claustrum - physiology; Correlation; Cortex (cingulate); Errors; Exploratory behavior; Gyrus Cinguli - physiology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Male; Males; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; multidisciplinary; Neurons; Neurons - metabolism; Neurons - physiology; Population dynamics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensory neurons; Sleep; Sleep - physiology; Somatosensory cortex; Task complexity; Wakefulness - physiology
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48829-6

The claustrum has been linked to attention and sleep. We hypothesized that this reflects a shared function, determining responsiveness to stimuli, which spans the axis of engagement. To test this hypothesis, we recorded claustrum population dynamics from male mice during both sleep and an attentional task (‘ENGAGE’). Heightened activity in claustrum neurons projecting to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACCp) corresponded to reduced sensory responsiveness during sleep. Similarly, in the ENGAGE task, heightened ACCp activity correlated with disengagement and behavioral lapses, while low ACCp activity correlated with hyper-engagement and impulsive errors. Chemogenetic elevation of ACCp activity reduced both awakenings during sleep and impulsive errors in the ENGAGE task. Furthermore, mice employing an exploration strategy in the task showed a stronger correlation between ACCp activity and performance compared to mice employing an exploitation strategy which reduced task complexity. Our results implicate ACCp claustrum neurons in restricting engagement during sleep and goal-directed behavior. Attention and sleep have been associated with the claustrum. Here authors pinpoint a cluster of neurons in the claustrum of male mice that dynamically determines engagement levels during both sleep and an attentional task.