A human-specific modifier of cortical connectivity and circuit function.

The cognitive abilities that characterize humans are thought to emerge from unique features of the cortical circuit architecture of the human brain, which include increased cortico-cortical connectivity. However, the evolutionary origin of these changes in connectivity and how they affected cortical circuit function and behaviour are currently unknown. The human-specific gene duplication SRGAP2C emerged in the ancestral genome of the Homo lineage before the major phase of increase in brain size1,2. SRGAP2C expression in mice increases the density of excitatory and inhibitory synapses received by layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons (PNs)3-5. Here we show that the increased number of excitatory synapses received by layer 2/3 PNs induced by SRGAP2C expression originates from a specific increase in local and long-range cortico-cortical connections. Mice humanized for SRGAP2C expression in all cortical PNs displayed a shift in the fraction of layer 2/3 PNs activated by sensory stimulation and an enhanced ability to learn a cortex-dependent sensory-discrimination task. Computational modelling revealed that the increased layer 4 to layer 2/3 connectivity induced by SRGAP2C expression explains some of the key changes in sensory coding properties. These results suggest that the emergence of SRGAP2C at the birth of the Homo lineage contributed to the evolution of specific structural and functional features of cortical circuits in the human cortex.

Hippocampal spike-time correlations and place field overlaps during open field foraging.

Phase precessing place cells encode spatial information on fine timescales via the timing of their spikes. This phase code has been extensively studied on linear tracks and for short runs in the open field. However, less is known about the phase code on unconstrained trajectories lasting tens of minutes, typical of open field foraging. In previous work (Monsalve-Mercado and Leibold, Physical Review Letters, 119, 38101 (2017)), an analytic expression was derived for the spike-time cross-correlation between phase precessing place cells during natural foraging in the open field. This expression makes two predictions on how this phase code differs from the linear track case: cross-correlations are symmetric with respect to time, and they represent the distance between pairs of place fields in that the theta-filtered cross-correlations around zero time lag are positive for cells with nearby fields while they are negative for those with fields further apart. Here we analyze several available open field recordings and show that these predictions hold for pairs of CA1 place cells. We also show that the relationship remains during remapping in CA1, and it is also present in place cells in area CA3. For CA1 place cells of Fmr1-null mice, which exhibit normal place fields but somewhat weaker temporal coordination with respect to theta compared to wild type, the cross-correlations still remain symmetric but the relationship to place field overlap is largely lost. The relationship discussed here describes how spatial information is communicated by place cells to downstream areas in a finer theta-timescale, relevant for learning and memory formation in behavioral tasks lasting tens of minutes in the open field.

Hippocampal Spike-Timing Correlations Lead to Hexagonal Grid Fields.

Space is represented in the mammalian brain by the activity of hippocampal place cells, as well as in their spike-timing correlations. Here, we propose a theory for how this temporal code is transformed to spatial firing rate patterns via spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity. The resulting dynamics of synaptic weights resembles well-known pattern formation models in which a lateral inhibition mechanism gives rise to a Turing instability. We identify parameter regimes in which hexagonal firing patterns develop as they have been found in medial entorhinal cortex.

Asymmetry of Neuronal Combinatorial Codes Arises from Minimizing Synaptic Weight Change.

Synaptic change is a costly resource, particularly for brain structures that have a high demand of synaptic plasticity. For example, building memories of object positions requires efficient use of plasticity resources since objects can easily change their location in space and yet we can memorize object locations. But how should a neural circuit ideally be set up to integrate two input streams (object location and identity) in case the overall synaptic changes should be minimized during ongoing learning? This letter provides a theoretical framework on how the two input pathways should ideally be specified. Generally the model predicts that the information-rich pathway should be plastic and encoded sparsely, whereas the pathway conveying less information should be encoded densely and undergo learning only if a neuronal representation of a novel object has to be established. As an example, we consider hippocampal area CA1, which combines place and object information. The model thereby provides a normative account of hippocampal rate remapping, that is, modulations of place field activity by changes of local cues. It may as well be applicable to other brain areas (such as neocortical layer V) that learn combinatorial codes from multiple input streams.

Traveling Theta Waves and the Hippocampal Phase Code.

Hippocampal place fields form a neuronal map of the spatial environment. In addition, the distance between two place field centers is proportional to the firing phase difference of two place cells with respect to the local theta rhythm. This consistency between spatial distance and theta phase is generally assumed to result from hippocampal phase precession: The firing phase of a place cell decreases with distance traveled in the place field. The rate of phase precession depends on place field width such that the phase range covered in a traversal of a place field is independent of field width. Width-dependent precession rates, however, generally disrupt the consistency between distance and phase differences. In this paper we provide a mathematical theory suggesting that this consistency can only be secured for different place field widths if phase precession starts at a width-dependent phase offset. These offsets are in accordance with the experimentally observed theta wave traveling from the dorsal to the ventral pole of the hippocampus. Furthermore the theory predicts that sequences of place cells with different widths should be ordered according to the end of the place field. The results also hold for considerably nonlinear phase precession profiles.