• Mérie Nassar, Louis Richevaux, Dongkyun Lim, Dario Tayupo, Erwan Martin, and Desdemona Fricker.
• Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 8002, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006 Paris, France. Electronic address: merie@naox-technologies.com.
• Neuroscience. 2024 Sep 23.

AbstractThe presubiculum is part of the parahippocampal cortex and plays a fundamental role for orientation in space. Many principal neurons of the presubiculum signal head direction, and show persistent firing when the head of an animal is oriented in a specific preferred direction. GABAergic neurons of the presubiculum control the timing, sensitivity and selectivity of head directional signals from the anterior thalamic nuclei. However, the role of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) expressing interneurons in the presubicular microcircuit has not yet been addressed. Here, we examined the intrinsic properties of VIP interneurons as well as their input connectivity following photostimulation of anterior thalamic axons. We show that presubicular VIP interneurons are more densely distributed in superficial than in deep layers. They are highly excitable. Three groups emerged from the unsupervised cluster analysis of their electrophysiological properties. We demonstrate a frequency dependent recruitment of VIP cells by thalamic afferences and facilitating synaptic input dynamics. Our data provide initial insight into the contribution of VIP interneurons for the integration of thalamic head direction information in the presubiculum.Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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