Identification of an inhibitory circuit that regulates cerebellar Golgi cell activity - PubMed (original) (raw)

Identification of an inhibitory circuit that regulates cerebellar Golgi cell activity

Court Hull et al. Neuron. 2012.

Abstract

Here we provide evidence that revises the inhibitory circuit diagram of the cerebellar cortex. It was previously thought that Golgi cells, interneurons that are the sole source of inhibition onto granule cells, were exclusively coupled via gap junctions. Moreover, Golgi cells were believed to receive GABAergic inhibition from molecular layer interneurons (MLIs). Here we challenge these views by optogenetically activating the cerebellar circuitry to determine the timing and pharmacology of inhibition onto Golgi cells and by performing paired recordings to directly assess synaptic connectivity. In contrast to current thought, we find that Golgi cells, not MLIs, make inhibitory GABAergic synapses onto other Golgi cells. As a result, MLI feedback does not regulate the Golgi cell network, and Golgi cells are inhibited approximately 2 ms before Purkinje cells, following a mossy fiber input. Hence, Golgi cells and Purkinje cells receive unique sources of inhibition and can differentially process shared granule cell inputs.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1. GABAergic inhibitory inputs to Golgi cells

A. Schematic showing the major cell types in the cerebellar cortex with their known synaptic contacts. Abbreviations: PC, Purkinje cell; PF, parallel fiber; MLI, molecular layer interneuron; GrC, granule cell; GoC, Golgi cell; MF, mossy fiber; V-clamp, voltage-clamp. Inhibitory synapses: red minus, and all other synapses (triangles) are glutamatergic. B. Spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) recorded from Golgi cells at a holding potential of +10 mV in the presence of NBQX (5 µM) and CPP (2.5 µM) to block glutamatergic inputs. All events were blocked by the GABAAR antagonist gabazine (5 µM). C. Average IPSC evoked with a stimulus electrode placed in the granule cell layer near the recorded Golgi cell. Evoked IPSCs were also blocked by gabazine. D. Fluorescence image of a cerebellar slice from the vermis of a Thy1 ChR2-YFP mouse that expresses channelrhodopsin 2 (ChR2) and YFP in a subset of MFs. GcL = granule cell layer, ML = molecular layer, Scale bar = 100 µm. E. Optical stimulation of ChR2 expressing MFs (473 nm light for 5 ms) evoked EPSCs (recorded at the reversal potential for IPSCs, see methods), and IPSCs (recorded at the EPSC reversal potential). IPSCs evoked by ChR2 activation were blocked by gabazine. F. In another experiment, ChR2-evoked IPSCs were also abolished by blocking glutamatergic transmission (NBQX and CPP), indicating that they were disynaptic.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Timing of MF-evoked inhibition onto Golgi cells, Purkinje cells and granule cells

A. Schematic illustrating the recording configuration for B. Blue bolt represents ChR2 activation with 473 nm light. B. top, Simultaneous recordings from a Purkinje cell (gray) and a Golgi cell (black) at the EPSC reversal potential demonstrate IPSCs onto both cells following ChR2 activation. bottom, left. Scaled IPSCs on an expanded timescale show that the Golgi cell IPSC arrives earlier than the Purkinje cell IPSC. bottom, right. On average, Golgi cell IPSCs arrived nearly 2 ms earlier than IPSCs onto simultaneously recorded Purkinje cells (n=6). C. Schematic of the recording configuration for D. D. top, Simultaneous recordings of IPSCs evoked by ChR2 activation for a granule cell (blue) and a Golgi cell (black). bottom, left. Scaled IPSCs on an expanded timescale show that the Golgi cell IPSC and granule cell IPSC arrive simultaneously. bottom, right. On average, for simultaneously recorded Golgi cells and granule cells, IPSCs arrived synchronously (n=5).

Figure 3

Figure 3. Differential pharmacology IPSCs onto Golgi and Purkinje cells evoked by either MF or PF activation

Following stimulation of either MFs with light (in Thy1 ChR2-YFP mice) (A) or PFs with an extracellular stimulus electrode (B), the resulting disynaptic IPSCs were recorded at Golgi cells and Purkinje cells, and the pharmacological sensitivity to the selective Group II mGluR agonist APDC (2 µM) was measured. As shown in representative experiments for each condition (A, B, left) and in the summaries (A, B, right), Golgi cell IPSCs were strongly attenuated by APDC, but Purkinje cell IPSCs were unaffected. IPSCs in both cells were abolished by blocking glutamatergic transmission (5 µM NBQX and 2.5 µM CPP), indicating that they were disynaptic. Insets show the averaged IPSCs in control (black), APDC (red), washout (blue), and NBQX (green).

Figure 4

Figure 4. Paired recordings reveal that Golgi cells make GABAergic synapses onto each other

A. A pair of recorded Golgi cells filled with Alexa 488 (green) and Alexa 594 (red), imaged with 2-photon microscopy. Scale bar=20 μm, ML=molecular layer, GcL=granule cell layer, dotted line is the boundary of the molecular layer. B. Experiments to test the electrical and chemical connections between neurons, with traces colored to represent the color of filled neurons in A. top, Spiking one Golgi cell produced an IPSC in the other Golgi cell. The IPSC is the average of 30 consecutive trials, and it was blocked by gabazine. bottom, A current step in one Golgi cell produced a large hyperpolarization in that cell, and a smaller hyperpolarization in the other Golgi cell, indicating that the cells were electrically coupled. C. Summary data from paired recordings (50 directions, 1 pair = 2 tested directions, IPSCs were observed in 10 of 50 directions tested, 3 pairs reciprocally connected). Individual experiments (open circles) and averages (close circles) are shown. left to right: Average conductance, IPSC latency, IPSC failure rate and the mean gap junctional conductance. C = connected, Gz = gabazine, NC = not connected.

Figure 5

Figure 5. Golgi cell spiking is highly sensitive to small, synchronous inhibitory inputs

A. Schematic showing that MLIs are electrically coupled and can fire synchronously, as is the case for Golgi cells. Dynamic clamp experiments were designed to test the implications of weak cross-network synaptic connectivity from MLIs to Golgi cells (B–D). B. Golgi cells were allowed to fire spontaneously at 2 to 8 Hz (B, left) and then inhibitory synaptic conductances (IPSGs, 0.5 – 1 nA) with the time course of inhibitory synaptic currents recorded in Golgi cells (EIPSG = −75 mV) were imposed at 5, 10 and 15 Hz (B, right) to mimic a weak inhibitory input from the MLI network. C. The resulting peristimulus time histograms (PSTH) for the experiment in B shows that inhibition from the MLI network would lead to phase locking of the Golgi cell network. Scale bar (in events/bin/stimulus) top = 0.02 middle = 0.04, bottom = 0.06 D. The average PSTH for 14 experiments also show Golgi cell firing phase locked with its inhibitory inputs. Scale bar (in events/bin/stimulus) top = 0.01 middle = 0.02, bottom = 0.03. Bin widths = 10 ms.

Figure 6

Figure 6. Paired recordings show no connections between molecular layer interneurons and Golgi cells

A. A MLI cell filled with Alexa 488 (green) and a Golgi cell filled with Alexa 594 (red), were imaged with 2-photon microscopy. Scale bar=20 µm, ML=molecular layer, GcL=granule cell layer, dotted line is the boundary of the molecular layer. B. left, Spiking the MLI (green trace) did not produce an IPSC in the Golgi cell (red trace, average of 70 consecutive trials, inflection is a capacitative electrical artifact). right, the average membrane conductance measured from 61 unconnected pairs was 0.001 nS. C. Paired recording from a MLI (basket cell, red) and a Purkinje cell (green). D. left, Spiking the MLI produced an IPSC in the Purkinje cell that was abolished by gabazine (5 µM). right, IPSCs were observed In 6 of 10 paired recordings between MLIs and Purkinje cells. C= connected, Gz = gabazine, NC = not connected.

Figure 7

Figure 7. Transgenic mice expressing ChR2 in MLIs demonstrate a lack of fast inhibitory synapses onto Golgi cells

A. Schematic depicting the paired whole-cell recordings of light-activated currents made simultaneously from a Golgi cell and a Purkinje cell in Prv-mhChR2-YFP mice. B. A fluorescence image shows intense YFP fluorescence in MLIs. Scale bar = 20 µm C. Example of a light-evoked IPSC recorded from a Purkinje cell, with no evoked current in a simultaneously recorded Golgi cell. D. Six such experiments are summarized for Purkinje cells (grey) and Golgi cells (black). No currents were evoked in any Golgi cells, and currents in Purkinje cells (mean conductance = 12.6 nS) were completely blocked by the GABAA receptor antagonist gabazine.

Figure 8

Figure 8. The timing of Golgi cell inhibition matches the timing of granule cell excitation

A. Schematic depicting our revision to the cerebellar circuit diagram. Golgi cells make GABAergic inhibitory synapses onto each other (red circle), and MLIs do not make synapses onto Golgi cells (red X). B. Light activation (0.2 ms, 473 nm) evoked an excitatory current onto a Golgi cell with two distinct components (EPSC1 and EPSC2), in control (black). EPSC2 was reduced in the presence of the type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1R) agonist WIN (3 µM; light gray) and recovered by the additional application of the CB1R antagonist AM251 (3 µM; dark gray). C. The effects of the CB1R agonist and antagonist on EPSC1 and EPSC2 are summarized, and each component is normalized to its initial value in control conditions. D. left, Example Golgi cell recording where the same light stimulus produces a dual component EPSC at the IPSC reversal potential, and a disynaptic IPSC at the EPSC reversal potential. right top, The same recording on an expanded time scale shows that the onset of EPSC2 (GrC EPSC) closely matches the onset of the Golgi-cell-mediated IPSC. bottom, On average, the GrC excitation begins at the same time as Golgi-cell-mediated inhibition (delay = 0.1 ms; n =11). E. left, A similar experiment as in D is shown, but while recording from a Purkinje cell. Note that the EPSC onto the Purkinje cell only has one component (from the GrCs). right top, Same recording on an expanded time scale, with the GrC EPSC set to the timing of the GrC EPSC from D. bottom, On average, the GrC excitation precedes the inhibition from MLIs (delay = 1.8 ms; n = 12). F. An example of a dynamic clamp experiment that tests the function of Golgi cell inhibition, and the importance of the timing of this inhibition. The timing and amplitudes of synaptic conductances were based on light-activated responses as in D. Excitatory inputs consisted of an initial mossy fiber component followed by a granule cell component. In the absence of inhibition, this combined input could evoke action potentials for a threshold level stimulus (F, left). In this regime, properly timed inhibition robustly suppressed spiking (F, middle). If the inhibition was delayed, as it would be if it resulted from MLI synapses, the inhibition failed to suppress spiking (F, right). G. Experiments were performed in which the size of the EPSG was varied to determine the threshold for triggering a spike. This was repeated in the presence of properly timed inhibition (IPSGearly) and late inhibition (IPSGlate). The effects of inhibition on threshold are summarized by normalizing to the level of threshold stimulus measured in the absence of inhibition. Individual experiments (open circles) and averages (closed circles) are shown.

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