Cognitive processes require working memory (WM) that involves a brief period of memory retention known as the delay period. Elevated delay-period activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been observed, but its functional role in WM tasks remains unclear. We optogenetically suppressed or enhanced activity of pyramidal neurons in mouse mPFC during the delay period. Behavioral performance was impaired during the learning phase but not after the mice were well trained. Delay-period mPFC activity appeared to be more important in memory retention than in inhibitory control, decision-making, or motor selection. Furthermore, endogenous delay-period mPFC activity showed more prominent modulation that correlated with memory retention and behavioral performance. Thus, properly regulated mPFC delay-period activity is critical for information retention during learning of a WM task.
In insects, olfactory information received by peripheral olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) is conveyed from the antennal lobes (ALs) to higher brain regions by olfactory projection neurons (PNs). Despite the knowledge that multiple types of PNs exist, little is known about how these different neuronal pathways work cooperatively. Here we studied the Drosophila GABAergic mediolateral antennocerebral tract PNs (mlPNs), which link ipsilateral AL and lateral horn (LH), in comparison with the cholinergic medial tract PNs (mPNs). We examined the connectivity of mlPNs in ALs and found that most mlPNs received inputs from both ORNs and mPNs and participated in AL network function by forming gap junctions with other AL neurons. Meanwhile, mlPNs might innervate LH neurons downstream of mPNs, exerting a feedforward inhibition. Using dual-color calcium imaging, which enables a simultaneous monitoring of neural activities in two groups of PNs, we found that mlPNs exhibited robust odor responses overlapping with, but broader than, those of mPNs. Moreover, preferentially down-regulation of GABA in most mlPNs caused abnormal courtship and aggressive behaviors in male flies. These findings demonstrate that in Drosophila, olfactory information in opposite polarities are carried coordinately by two parallel and interacted pathways, which could be essential for appropriate behaviors.circuit | electrical coupling | electrophysiology | multicolor calcium imaging | multiglomerular I n insects, the detection of olfactory cues begins at the peripheral olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), which transfer the chemical information into neural signals and convey them to the first central relay station-the antennal lobes (ALs) (1-3). After AL local processing, olfactory information is relayed to higher brain regions via different groups of projection neurons (PNs) (4-6). Except some pioneering studies in Hymenopterans (7-11) and Lepidopterans (12), little is known about how these different PNs connect in the olfactory circuit and work physiologically. As the most studied PN type in Drosophila, the cholinergic PNs (mPNs) form the medial antennocerebral tract and convey excitatory signals encoding odor identity and intensity (13-15) that are necessary for the fly to perform appropriate behaviors (16,17). However, how olfactory information is delivered via pathways mediated by PNs other than mPNs remains to be elucidated. In this study, we focused on the mediolateral antennocerebral tract PNs (mlPNs), which are the second largest PN subset (∼50 mlPNs in each hemisphere) and reported to be largely GABAergic with axons terminating mainly in the lateral horn (LH) (18,19). Based on the extent of their dendritic arborization, mlPNs can be further categorized into three subtypes: the uniglomerular mlPNs (type 1 mlPNs, mlPN1s); the multiglomerular mlPNs (mlPN2s), which comprise the great majority (>80%) of mlPNs; and the panglomerular mlPNs (mlPN3s) (19). Here we focused on mlPN1s and mlPN2s, which exclusively link ALs with the ipsilateral LH and were la...
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