At the onset of active whisking, the input layer of barrel cortex exhibits a 24 h window of increased excitability that depends on prior experience.

The development of motor control over sensory organs is a critical milestone in sensory processing, enabling active exploration and shaping of the sensory environment. However, whether the onset of sensory organ motor control directly influences the development of corresponding sensory cortices remains unknown. Here, we exploit the late onset of whisking behavior in mice to address this question in the somatosensory system. Using ex vivo electrophysiology, we discovered a transient increase in the intrinsic excitability of excitatory neurons in layer IV of the barrel cortex, which processes whisker input, precisely coinciding with the onset of active whisking at postnatal day 14 (P14). This increase in neuronal gain was specific to layer IV, independent of changes in synaptic strength, and required prior sensory experience. Strikingly, the effect was not observed in layer II/III of the barrel cortex or in the visual cortex upon eye opening, suggesting a unique interaction between the development of active sensing and the thalamocortical input layer in the somatosensory system. Predictive modeling indicated that changes in active membrane conductances alone could reliably distinguish P14 neurons in control but not whisker-deprived hemispheres. Our findings demonstrate an experience-dependent, lamina-specific refinement of neuronal excitability tightly linked to the emergence of active whisking. This transient increase in the gain of the thalamic input layer coincides with a critical period for synaptic plasticity in downstream layers, suggesting a role in facilitating cortical maturation and sensory processing. Together, our results provide evidence for a direct interaction between the development of motor control and sensory cortex, offering new insights into the experience-dependent development and refinement of sensory systems. These findings have broad implications for understanding the interplay between motor and sensory development, and how the mechanisms of perception cooperate with behavior.

A MYT1L syndrome mouse model recapitulates patient phenotypes and reveals altered brain development due to disrupted neuronal maturation.

Human genetics have defined a new neurodevelopmental syndrome caused by loss-of-function mutations in MYT1L, a transcription factor known for enabling fibroblast-to-neuron conversions. However, how MYT1L mutation causes intellectual disability, autism, ADHD, obesity, and brain anomalies is unknown. Here, we developed a Myt1l haploinsufficient mouse model that develops obesity, white-matter thinning, and microcephaly, mimicking common clinical phenotypes. During brain development we discovered disrupted gene expression, mediated in part by loss of Myt1l gene-target activation, and identified precocious neuronal differentiation as the mechanism for microcephaly. In contrast, in adults we discovered that mutation results in failure of transcriptional and chromatin maturation, echoed in disruptions in baseline physiological properties of neurons. Myt1l haploinsufficiency also results in behavioral anomalies, including hyperactivity, muscle weakness, and social alterations, with more severe phenotypes in males. Overall, our findings provide insight into the mechanistic underpinnings of this disorder and enable future preclinical studies.

Firing rate homeostasis in visual cortex of freely behaving rodents.

It has been postulated that homeostatic mechanisms maintain stable circuit function by keeping neuronal firing within a set point range, but such firing rate homeostasis has never been demonstrated in vivo. Here we use chronic multielectrode recordings to monitor firing rates in visual cortex of freely behaving rats during chronic monocular visual deprivation (MD). Firing rates in V1 were suppressed over the first 2 day of MD but then rebounded to baseline over the next 2-3 days despite continued MD. This drop and rebound in firing was accompanied by bidirectional changes in mEPSC amplitude measured ex vivo. The rebound in firing was independent of sleep-wake state but was cell type specific, as putative FS and regular spiking neurons responded to MD with different time courses. These data establish that homeostatic mechanisms within the intact CNS act to stabilize neuronal firing rates in the face of sustained sensory perturbations.

Synaptic and intrinsic homeostatic mechanisms cooperate to increase L2/3 pyramidal neuron excitability during a late phase of critical period plasticity.

Visual deprivation profoundly affects visual cortical response properties, but the activity-dependent plasticity mechanisms that underlie these changes are poorly understood. Monocular deprivation (MD) induces ocular dominance (OD) shifts through biphasic changes in cortical excitability, first decreasing responsiveness to the deprived eye, and then slowly increasing responsiveness to both the deprived and spared eyes. It has been suggested that this slow gain of responsiveness is due to homeostatic synaptic scaling, but this prediction has not been tested directly. Here we show that, in rat monocular and binocular primary visual cortex (V1m and V1b), postsynaptic strength onto layer 2/3 (L2/3) pyramidal neurons is modulated in a biphasic manner by MD, first undergoing a net decrease after 1 and 2 d MD, increasing back to baseline after 3 d, and finally undergoing a net potentiation between 3 and 6 d. The time course and direction of these synaptic changes match well the known changes in visual responsiveness during OD plasticity. Viral-mediated delivery of the GluA2 C-tail in vivo blocked these synaptic changes, indicating that, like synaptic scaling in vitro, AMPA receptor trafficking via the GluA2 C-tail is required for the delayed increase in postsynaptic strength. Finally, we also observed a delayed increase in the intrinsic excitability of L2/3 pyramidal neurons following prolonged MD. These data indicate that synaptic and intrinsic homeostatic mechanisms cooperate to increase excitability of L2/3 pyramidal neurons following prolonged MD, and suggest that these homeostatic mechanisms contribute to the delayed gain of visual responsiveness during OD plasticity.

Critical period for inhibitory plasticity in rodent binocular V1.

Postnatal cortical circuit development is characterized by windows of heightened plasticity that contribute to the acquisition of mature connectivity and function. What drives the transition between different critical plasticity windows is not known. Here we show that a switch in sign of inhibitory plasticity correlates with the reported transition between the precritical period (pre-CP) and the critical period (CP) for ocular dominance plasticity (ODP). In layer 4 of binocular visual cortex (V1b), depression of inhibitory synapses onto pyramidal neurons is induced when rats are monocularly deprived for 2 d at the end of the third postnatal week (pre-CP), whereas potentiation is induced if the monocular deprivation is started in the fourth postnatal week (CP). The magnitude of potentiation increases with deprivations started close to the peak of the CP for ODP. The direction of inhibitory plasticity depends on the differential manipulation of circuits activated by the two eyes. During development, these two forms of plasticity shift the balance between excitation and inhibition of the circuit in opposite directions, whereas the excitatory synaptic drive remains unaffected. Inhibitory plasticity is thus fundamental in modulating cortical circuit refinement and might be one of the mechanisms promoting ocular dominance shifts.

Synaptic scaling requires the GluR2 subunit of the AMPA receptor.

Two functionally distinct forms of synaptic plasticity, Hebbian long-term potentiation (LTP) and homeostatic synaptic scaling, are thought to cooperate to promote information storage and circuit refinement. Both arise through changes in the synaptic accumulation of AMPA receptors (AMPARs), but whether they use similar or distinct receptor-trafficking pathways is unknown. Here, we show that TTX-induced synaptic scaling in cultured visual cortical neurons leads to the insertion of GluR2-containing AMPARs at synapses. Similarly, visual deprivation with monocular TTX injections results in synaptic accumulation of GluR2-containing AMPARs. Unlike chemical LTP, synaptic scaling is blocked by a GluR2 C-tail peptide but not by a GluR1 C-tail peptide. Knockdown of endogenous GluR2 with an short hairpin RNA (shRNA) also blocks synaptic scaling but not chemical LTP. Scaling can be rescued with expression of exogenous GluR2 resistant to the shRNA, but a chimeric GluR2 subunit with the C-terminal domain swapped with the GluR1 C-terminal domain (GluR2/CT1) does not rescue synaptic scaling, indicating that regulatory sequences on the GluR2 C-tail are required for the accumulation of synaptic AMPARs during scaling. Together, our results suggest that synaptic scaling and LTP use different trafficking pathways, making these two forms of plasticity both functionally and molecularly distinct.