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| Poster #255 Inhibitory plasticity controls gustatory cortical circuit refinement in the postnatal period |
| Hillary C Schiff1 & Arianna Maffei2 1Ohio State University College of Dentistry, Columbus, OH, United States 2Stony Brook University Department of Neurobiology & Behavior, Stony Brook, NY, United States |
Sensory cortical circuits undergo refinement during the postnatal period which contributes to complex functions including sensory perception, decision-making, and cognition. During these critical periods, circuit refinement requires synaptic plasticity and maturation of inhibition, and these processes are modulated by sensory experience. For the sensation of taste, our recent studies found that taste experience at weaning influenced sweet preference and cortical inhibition in gustatory cortex (GC), the primary sensory region for taste (Schiff et al, 2023). Here, we delineate the time course of postnatal maturation in GC with a focus on cellular and circuit properties. We used whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, and channelrhodopsin-assisted circuit mapping to track postnatal changes in GC. We recorded from GC pyramidal neurons in young (P17-24), juvenile (P35), and young adult (P56) male and female mice and observed an increase in inhibitory synaptic transmission (IPSCs) with no observed changes in excitatory synaptic transmission (EPSCs), suggesting a developmental shift in the excitatory-to-inhibitory ratio. The changes in inhibition were accompanied by an increase in parvalbumin fluorescence intensity and accumulation of perineuronal nets on PV-expressing interneurons (PV+ INs). We also observed circuit reorganization with a reduction in inhibitory connectivity onto pyramidal neurons in adulthood compared to weaning. These results suggest that GC circuit refinement is associated with maturation of inhibition, specifically PV+ INs. Understanding the sequences of postnatal refinement will allow us to better understand how the interaction of cellular mechanisms, nutrition, and early life sensory experience influences brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders. |