RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The claustrum-medial prefrontal cortex network controls attentional set-shifting
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.10.14.339259
DO 10.1101/2020.10.14.339259
A1 Fodoulian, Leon
A1 Gschwend, Olivier
A1 Huber, Chieko
A1 Mutel, Sophie
A1 Salazar, Rodrigo F.
A1 Leone, Roberta
A1 Renfer, Jean-Rodolphe
A1 Ekundayo, Kazadi
A1 Rodriguez, Ivan
A1 Carleton, Alan
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/15/2020.10.14.339259.abstract
AB In various mental disorders, dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex contributes to cognitive deficits. Here we studied how the claustrum (CLA), a nucleus sharing reciprocal connections with the cortex, may participate in these cognitive impairments. We show that specific ensembles of CLA and of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons are activated during a task requiring cognitive control such as attentional set-shifting, i.e. the ability to shift attention towards newly relevant stimulus-reward associations while disengaging from irrelevant ones. CLA neurons exert a direct excitatory input on mPFC pyramidal cells, and chemogenetic inhibition of CLA neurons suppresses the formation of specific mPFC assemblies during attentional set-shifting. Furthermore, impairing the recruitment of specific CLA assemblies through opto/chemogenetic manipulations prevents attentional set-shifting. In conclusion, we propose that the CLA controls the reorganization of mPFC ensembles to enable attentional set-shifting, emphasizing a potential role of the CLA-mPFC network in attentional dysfunctions.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.