Prominent Inhibitory Projections Guide Sensorimotor Computation: An Invertebrate Perspective

Abstract

From single-cell organisms to complex neural networks, all evolved to provide control solutions to generate context-and goal-specific actions. Neural circuits performing sensorimotor computation to drive navigation employ inhibitory control as a gating mechanism as they hierarchically transform (multi)sensory information into motor actions. Here, the focus is on this literature to critically discuss the proposition that prominent inhibitory projections form sensorimotor circuits. After reviewing the neural circuits of navigation across various invertebrate species, it is argued that with increased neural circuit complexity and the emergence of parallel computations, inhibitory circuits acquire new functions. The contribution of inhibitory neurotransmission for navigation goes beyond shaping the communication that drives motor neurons, and instead includes encoding of emergent sensorimotor representations. A mechanistic understanding of the neural circuits performing sensorimotor computations in invertebrates will unravel the minimum circuit requirements driving adaptive navigation.

Social isolation of adolescent male rats increases anxiety and K+‐induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens: Role of CRF‐R1

“…Similar to other studies, we found that isolation increased ambulation in an open field as well as the number of arm entries in an EPM (Ieraci et al., 2016; Shao et al., 2009). Ambulation and navigation are complex behaviors that involve whole brain computation (Hughes & Celikel, 2019) and are dependent on the activation of sensorimotor circuits (Hughes & Celikel, 2019). Pre‐pulse inhibition (PPI) is used as an operational measure of sensorimotor gating (Fitzgerald & Pickel, 2018; Kohl et al., 2013).…”

Serotonergic development of active sensing

“…Alternatively, the sensorimotor deficits might be a consequence of an altered balance between excitation and inhibition (E/I) as elevated serotonin levels during development impairs feedforward inhibition and facilitate excitatory drive in the somatosensory system (Miceli et al, 2017). Considering that altered E/I balance is critical for preventing runaway excitation, sharpening stimulus selectivity, and increasing the overall sparseness of stimulus representations, a local change in E/I balance in sensory systems might have global consequences on the perceptual, cognitive and motor deficits Murray et al, 2014;Juczewski et al, 2016;Lainscsek et al, 2019), even in invertebrates (Hughes and Celikel, 2019). Given the regulatory close-loop between serotonergic drive and sensory experience (Yan et al, submitted) the impact of the transient alterations in E/I balance could be sustained in longer time scales.…”

Principles of Dopamine Binding to Carbon Surfaces

“…Dopamine is a monoaminergic neurotransmitter that regulates a wide range of neurophysiological functions such as behaviour, attention, cognition (1)(2)(3)(4). Low levels of dopamine in the brain are known to cause neurological and psychological disorders like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's diseases and schizophrenia (5).…”