Contribution of the basal forebrain to corticocortical network interactions

Basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic neurons provide the cerebral cortex with acetylcholine. Despite the long-established involvement of these cells in sensory processing, attention, and memory, the mechanisms by which cholinergic signaling regulates cognitive processes remain elusive. In this study, we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain Structure and Function 2021-07, Vol.226 (6), p.1803-1821
Main Authors: Gombkoto, Peter, Gielow, Matthew, Varsanyi, Peter, Chavez, Candice, Zaborszky, Laszlo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetylcholine
Animals
Attention
Basal forebrain
Basal Forebrain - metabolism
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cell Biology
Cerebral cortex
Choline O-Acetyltransferase - metabolism
Cholinergic Agents
Cholinergic Neurons - metabolism
Cholinergic transmission
Cognitive ability
Cortex (somatosensory)
Electrophysiological recording
Forebrain
Information processing
Neurology
Neurosciences
Optogenetics
Original
Original Article
Rats
Sensory integration
Spatial distribution
Visual cortex
Visual discrimination
Visual pathways
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Summary:Basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic neurons provide the cerebral cortex with acetylcholine. Despite the long-established involvement of these cells in sensory processing, attention, and memory, the mechanisms by which cholinergic signaling regulates cognitive processes remain elusive. In this study, we recorded spiking and local field potential data simultaneously from several locations in the BF, and sites in the orbitofrontal and visual cortex in transgenic ChAT-Cre rats performing a visual discrimination task. We observed distinct differences in the fine spatial distributions of gamma coherence values between specific basalo-cortical and cortico-cortical sites that shifted across task phases. Additionally, cholinergic firing induced spatial changes in cortical gamma power, and optogenetic activation of BF increased coherence between specific cortico-cortical sites, suggesting that the cholinergic system contributes to selective modulation of cortico-cortical circuits. Furthermore, the results suggest that cells in specific BF locations are dynamically recruited across behavioral epochs to coordinate interregional cortical processes underlying cognition.
ISSN:1863-2653
1863-2661
0340-2061
DOI:10.1007/s00429-021-02290-z