
Cholinergic input to mouse visual cortex signals a locomotion state and acutely enhances the responsiveness of layer 5 neurons to both bottom-up and top-down inputs.


coremsg

Acetylcholine is released in visual cortex by axonal projections from the basal forebrain. The signals conveyed by these projections and their computational significance are still unclear. Using two-photon calcium imaging in behaving mice, we show that basal forebrain cholinergic axons in the mouse visual cortex provide a binary locomotion state signal. In these axons, we found no evidence of responses to visual stimuli or visuomotor prediction errors. While optogenetic activation of cholinergic axons in visual cortex in isolation did not drive local neuronal activity, when paired with visuomotor stimuli, it resulted in layer-specific increases of neuronal activity. Responses in layer 5 neurons to both top-down and bottom-up inputs were increased in amplitude and decreased in latency, whereas those in layer 2/3 neurons remained unchanged. Using opto- and chemogenetic manipulations of cholinergic activity, we found acetylcholine to underlie the locomotion-associated decorrelation of activity between neurons in both layer 2/3 and layer 5. Based on this we speculate that acetylcholine augments the responsiveness of layer 5 neurons to inputs from outside of the local network, possibly enabling faster switching between internal representations during locomotion.

\***| Dear reader, please note this manuscript is formatted in a standard submission format, and all statistical information is in [Table S1][1]. \***| 

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

 [1]: #T2

Cholinergic input to mouse visual cortex signals a movement state and acutely enhances layer 5 responsiveness

locomotion-associated-cholinergic-signals-in-mouse-visual-cortex-enhance-layer-5-responsiveness


Locomotion-Associated Cholinergic Signals in Mouse Visual Cortex Enhance Layer 5 Responsiveness
