TY - JOUR TI - Learning excitatory-inhibitory neuronal assemblies in recurrent networks AU - Mackwood, Owen AU - Naumann, Laura B AU - Sprekeler, Henning A2 - Palmer, Stephanie E A2 - Ivry, Richard B VL - 10 PY - 2021 DA - 2021/04/26 SP - e59715 C1 - eLife 2021;10:e59715 DO - 10.7554/eLife.59715 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59715 AB - Understanding the connectivity observed in the brain and how it emerges from local plasticity rules is a grand challenge in modern neuroscience. In the primary visual cortex (V1) of mice, synapses between excitatory pyramidal neurons and inhibitory parvalbumin-expressing (PV) interneurons tend to be stronger for neurons that respond to similar stimulus features, although these neurons are not topographically arranged according to their stimulus preference. The presence of such excitatory-inhibitory (E/I) neuronal assemblies indicates a stimulus-specific form of feedback inhibition. Here, we show that activity-dependent synaptic plasticity on input and output synapses of PV interneurons generates a circuit structure that is consistent with mouse V1. Computational modeling reveals that both forms of plasticity must act in synergy to form the observed E/I assemblies. Once established, these assemblies produce a stimulus-specific competition between pyramidal neurons. Our model suggests that activity-dependent plasticity can refine inhibitory circuits to actively shape cortical computations. KW - synaptic plasticity KW - neural assemblies KW - inhibition KW - interneurons KW - visual cortex KW - homeostasis JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -