Golgi cells regulate timing and variability of information transfer in a cerebellar-behavioural loop
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Golgi cells are inhibitory interneurons residing in the input layer of the cerebellar cortex. These neurons sit in a key position to govern the transformation of incoming information from extracerebellar regions and influence downstream cerebellar processing. Here, we examine the contribution of Golgi cells to network dynamics in Crus 1 of mouse lateral cerebellar cortex during free whisking. We recorded neuronal population activity using NeuroPixels probes before and after chemogenetic downregulation of Golgi cell activity. Under resting conditions, cerebellar population activity reliably encoded whisker movements. Reductions in Golgi cell activity produced mild increases in neural activity which did not significantly impair these sensorimotor representations. However, reduced Golgi cell inhibition did increase the temporal alignment of local population network activity at the initiation of movement. These network alterations had variable impacts on behaviour, producing both increases and decreases in whisking velocity. Our results suggest that Golgi cell inhibition primarily governs the temporal patterning of population activity, which in turn is required to support downstream cerebellar dynamics and behavioural coordination.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT
The cerebellum is known to have a simple and highly conserved structure which has tantalised neurobiologists wishing to understand its function. Here we look at the role of one specific class of inhibitory interneuron, Golgi cells, in the input layer of the cerebellar cortex. We selectively turned down Golgi cell activity in the awake cerebellum to characterise the influence on network activity and behaviour. Here we show that downregulation of Golgi cells has very little influence on sensorimotor representations in the cerebellum (i.e., what is represented), but instead modulates the timing of cortical population activity (i.e., when information is represented). Our results indicate that Golgi cells are necessary to appropriately pace changes in cerebellar activity to match ongoing behaviour.
