PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Martin Vinck
AU  - Renata Batista-Brito
AU  - Ulf Knoblich
AU  - Jessica A. Cardin
TI  - Arousal and locomotion make distinct contributions to cortical activity patterns and visual encoding
AID  - 10.1101/010751
DP  - 2014 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 010751
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/10/30/010751.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/10/30/010751.full
AB  - Spontaneous and sensory-evoked cortical activity is highly state-dependent, yet relatively little is known about transitions between distinct waking states. Patterns of activity in mouse V1 differ dramatically between quiescence and locomotion, but this difference could be explained by either motor feedback or a change in arousal levels. We recorded single cells and local field potentials from area V1 in mice head-fixed on a running wheel and monitored pupil diameter to assay arousal. Using naturally occurring and induced state transitions, we dissociated arousal and locomotion effects in V1. Arousal suppressed spontaneous firing and strongly altered the temporal patterning of population activity. Moreover, heightened arousal increased the signal-to-noise ratio of visual responses and reduced noise correlations. In contrast, increased firing in anticipation of and during movement was attributable to locomotion effects. Our findings suggest complementary roles of arousal and locomotion in promoting functional flexibility in cortical circuits.LFPLocal Field PotentialV1primary visual cortexPDpupil diameterFSfast spikingRSregular spikingFRfiring rateL-onlocomotion onsetL-offlocomotion offsetLlocomotionLEearly locomotionLLlate locomotionQquiescenceQEearly quiescenceQMmiddle quiescenceQLlate quiescenceSNRsignal-to-noise ratioITIInter-trial-intervalLVlocal coefficient of variationISIinter-spike-intervals.e.m.standard error of the meanSDstandard deviationIDIsolation Distance