Intrinsic neuronal diversity as a substrate for cortical area specialization in primate vision
In primates, primary visual cortex (V1) circuits support early visual processing, whereas in the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), they support higher-order computations. Here, we characterized the intrinsic electrophysiological (e)-properties and morphology of excitatory (EXC), fast-spiking inhibitory (FSI), and non-fast-spiking inhibitory (NFSI) neurons in layers I-III of V1 and LPFC, of a small primate, the common marmoset. EXC and FSI neurons exhibited broader action potentials in LPFC than in V1. Compared to V1, LPFC EXC neurons exhibited reduced excitability, whereas FSI neurons showed increased excitability. NFSI neurons showed fewer area-specific differences. Notably, EXC and FSI neurons displayed increased bursting in LPFC compared to V1. Morphologically, LPFC-EXC neurons exhibited longer dendritic arbors, whereas LPFC-FSI neurons showed greater axonal complexity relative to V1. Our findings demonstrate area-specific functional and anatomical diversification of major neuronal types in layers I-III of the primate neocortex and provide an open-access resource for studies of neocortical cell types.
Authors
- Samuel Mestern (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5062-6712)
- Guillermo González‐Burgos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1650-8111)
- A.F.T. Arnsten
- J. Rachel
- Wataru Inoue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2438-5123)
- Rabea Hinkel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2936-0400)
- Julio Martínez-Trujillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3338-578X)
- Stefan Everling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9714-9757)
- Susheel Vijayraghavan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7510-0055)
- Jochen F. Staiger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5694-9723)
- Shreejoy J. Tripathy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1007-9061)
- David A. Lewis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3225-6778)
- Andreas Neef (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4445-7478)
- J. Sunstrum
- Stefan Treue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8938-5810)
- Felix Preuss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0184-3243)
- V. A. Khatibi
- M. Mietsch
- S. Pommer
- M. S. Jimenez-Sosa
- M. Feyerabend
Institutions
- Western University (CA)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation (DE)
- German Primate Center (DE)
- Yale University (US)
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (DE)
- Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (DE)
- German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (DE)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-06-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73734-5
- Primary Topic
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- CIHR Skin Research Training Centre