Visual Sequences Drive Experience-Dependent Plasticity in Mouse Anterior Cingulate Cortex

• Published in: Cell reports (Cambridge) 2020-09, Vol.32 (11), p.108152-108152, Article 108152
• Main Authors: Sidorov, Michael S., Kim, Hyojin, Rougie, Marie, Williams, Brittany, Siegel, Jennifer J., Gavornik, Jeffrey P., Philpot, Benjamin D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Angelman syndrome; Angelman Syndrome - physiopathology; Animals; anterior cingulate; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Gyrus Cinguli - physiology; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Neurodevelopmental Disorders - pathology; Neurodevelopmental Disorders - physiopathology; Neuronal Plasticity - physiology; Photic Stimulation; plasticity; Time Factors; visual cortex; Visual Cortex - physiology; Visual Pathways - physiology; visually evoked potential
• ISSN: 2211-1247; 2211-1247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108152

Mechanisms of experience-dependent plasticity have been well characterized in mouse primary visual cortex (V1), including a form of potentiation driven by repeated presentations of a familiar visual sequence (“sequence plasticity”). The prefrontal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) responds to visual stimuli, yet little is known about if and how visual experience modifies ACC circuits. We find that mouse ACC exhibits sequence plasticity, but in contrast to V1, the plasticity expresses as a change in response timing, rather than a change in response magnitude. Sequence plasticity is absent in ACC, but not V1, in a mouse model of a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with intellectual disability and autism-like features. Our results demonstrate that simple sensory stimuli can be used to reveal how experience functionally (or dysfunctionally) modifies higher-order prefrontal circuits and suggest a divergence in how ACC and V1 encode familiarity. [Display omitted] •Visual sequences can be used to drive mouse anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)•Training to an expected sequence drives plasticity in the timing of ACC responses•Sequence plasticity is absent in ACC, but not V1, in Angelman syndrome mice Sidorov et al. demonstrate that patterned visual input can drive experience-dependent plasticity in the timing of neural responses in mouse anterior cingulate cortex.