Dendritic Mechanisms for In Vivo Neural Computations and Behavior.

Dendrites receive the vast majority of a single neuron's inputs, and coordinate the transformation of these signals into neuronal output. Ex vivo and theoretical evidence has shown that dendrites possess powerful processing capabilities, yet little is known about how these mechanisms are engaged in the intact brain or how they influence circuit dynamics. New experimental and computational technologies have led to a surge in interest to unravel and harness their computational potential. This review highlights recent and emerging work that combines established and cutting-edge technologies to identify the role of dendrites in brain function. We discuss active dendritic mediation of sensory perception and learning in neocortical and hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Complementing these physiological findings, we present theoretical work that provides new insights into the underlying computations of single neurons and networks by using biologically plausible implementations of dendritic processes. Finally, we present a novel brain-computer interface task, which assays somatodendritic coupling to study the mechanisms of biological credit assignment. Together, these findings present exciting progress in understanding how dendrites are critical for in vivo learning and behavior, and highlight how subcellular processes can contribute to our understanding of both biological and artificial neural computation.

Vectorized instructive signals in cortical dendrites during a brain-computer interface task.

Backpropagation of error is the most widely used learning algorithm in artificial neural networks, forming the backbone of modern machine learning and artificial intelligence1,2. Backpropagation provides a solution to the credit assignment problem by vectorizing an error signal tailored to individual neurons. Recent theoretical models have suggested that neural circuits could implement backpropagation-like learning by semi-independently processing feedforward and feedback information streams in separate dendritic compartments3-7. This presents a compelling, but untested, hypothesis for how cortical circuits could solve credit assignment in the brain. We designed a neurofeedback brain-computer interface (BCI) task with an experimenter-defined reward function to evaluate the key requirements for dendrites to implement backpropagation-like learning. We trained mice to modulate the activity of two spatially intermingled populations (4 or 5 neurons each) of layer 5 pyramidal neurons in the retrosplenial cortex to rotate a visual grating towards a target orientation while we recorded GCaMP activity from somas and corresponding distal apical dendrites. We observed that the relative magnitudes of somatic versus dendritic signals could be predicted using the activity of the surrounding network and contained information about task-related variables that could serve as instructive signals, including reward and error. The signs of these putative teaching signals both depended on the causal role of individual neurons in the task and predicted changes in overall activity over the course of learning. These results provide the first biological evidence of a backpropagation-like solution to the credit assignment problem in the brain.

Rethinking Single Neuron Electrical Compartmentalization: Dendritic Contributions to Network Computation In Vivo.

Decades of experimental and theoretical work support a now well-established theory that active dendritic processing contributes to the computational power of individual neurons. This theory is based on the high degree of electrical compartmentalization observed in the dendrites of single neurons in ex vivo preparations. Compartmentalization allows dendrites to conduct semi-independent operations on their inputs before final integration and output at the axon, producing a "network-in-a-neuron." However, recent in vivo functional imaging experiments in mouse cortex have reported surprisingly little evidence for strong dendritic compartmentalization. In this review, we contextualize these new findings and discuss their impact on the future of the field. Specifically, we consider how highly coordinated, and thus less compartmentalized, activity in soma and dendrites can contribute to cortical computations including nonlinear mixed selectivity, prediction/expectation, multiplexing, and credit assignment.

High and asymmetric somato-dendritic coupling of V1 layer 5 neurons independent of visual stimulation and locomotion.

Active dendrites impact sensory processing and behaviour. However, it remains unclear how active dendritic integration relates to somatic output in vivo. We imaged semi-simultaneously GCaMP6s signals in the soma, trunk and distal tuft dendrites of layer 5 pyramidal neurons in the awake mouse primary visual cortex. We found that apical tuft signals were dominated by widespread, highly correlated calcium transients throughout the tuft. While these signals were highly coupled to trunk and somatic transients, the frequency of calcium transients was found to decrease in a distance-dependent manner from soma to tuft. Ex vivo recordings suggest that low-frequency back-propagating action potentials underlie the distance-dependent loss of signals, while coupled somato-dendritic signals can be triggered by high-frequency somatic bursts or strong apical tuft depolarization. Visual stimulation and locomotion increased neuronal activity without affecting somato-dendritic coupling. High, asymmetric somato-dendritic coupling is therefore a widespread feature of layer 5 neurons activity in vivo.

Action and learning shape the activity of neuronal circuits in the visual cortex.

Nonsensory variables strongly influence neuronal activity in the adult mouse primary visual cortex. Neuronal responses to visual stimuli are modulated by behavioural state, such as arousal and motor activity, and are shaped by experience. This dynamic process leads to neural representations in the visual cortex that reflect stimulus familiarity, expectations of reward and object location, and mismatch between self-motion and visual-flow. The recent development of genetic tools and recording techniques in awake behaving mice has enabled the investigation of the circuit mechanisms underlying state-dependent and experience-dependent neuronal representations in primary visual cortex. These neuronal circuits involve neuromodulatory, top-down cortico-cortical and thalamocortical pathways. The functions of nonsensory signals at this early stage of visual information processing are now beginning to be unravelled.