Journal
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Volume 25, Issue 12, Pages 4854-4868Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv202
Keywords
barrel cortex; cortical interneurons; GABA; vasoactive intestinal polypeptide; Vip-ires-cre
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Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [STA 431/8-1, STA 431/10-1]
- CRC 889 (Cellular mechanisms of sensory information processing) [TP C07]
- DFG via CRC 889
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Neocortical GABAergic interneurons have a profound impact on cortical circuitry and its information processing capacity. Distinct subgroups of inhibitory interneurons can be distinguished by molecular markers, such as parvalbumin, somatostatin, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP). Among these, VIP-expressing interneurons sparked a substantial interest since these neurons seem to operate disinhibitory circuit motifs found in all major neocortical areas. Several of these recent studies used transgenic Vip-ires-cre mice to specifically target the population of VIP-expressing interneurons. This makes it necessary to elucidate in detail the sensitivity and specificity of Cre expression for VIP neurons in these animals. Thus, we quantitatively compared endogenous tdTomato with Vip fluorescence in situ hybridization and alpha VIP immunohistochemistry in the barrel cortex of VIPcre/tdTomato mice in a layer-specific manner. We show that VIPcre/tdTomato mice are highly sensitive and specific for the entire population of VIP-expressing neurons. In the barrel cortex, approximately 13% of all GABAergic neurons are VIP expressing. Most VIP neurons are found in layer II/III (similar to 60%), whereas approximately 40% are found in the other layers of the barrel cortex. Layer II/III VIP neurons are significantly different from VIP neurons in layers IV-VI in several morphological and membrane properties, which suggest layer-dependent differences in functionality.
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