Stability and Plasticity of Contextual Modulation in the Mouse Visual Cortex

Activity of neurons in primary visual cortex is shaped by sensory and behavioral context. However, the long-term stability of the influence of contextual factors in the mature cortex remains poorly understood. To investigate this, we used two-photon calcium imaging to track the influence of surround suppression and locomotion on individual neurons over 14 days. We found that highly active excitatory neurons and parvalbumin-positive (PV+) interneurons exhibited relatively stable modulation by visual context. Similarly, most neurons exhibited a stable yet distinct degree of modulation by locomotion. In contrast, less active excitatory neurons exhibited plasticity in visual context influence, resulting in increased suppression. These findings suggest that the mature visual cortex possesses stable subnetworks of neurons, differentiated by cell type and activity level, which have distinctive and stable interactions with sensory and behavioral contexts, as well as other less active and more labile neurons, which are sensitive to visual experience. [Display omitted] •Highly active excitatory neurons are stably modulated by visual context•Lower activity neurons exhibit plasticity of influence of visual context in mature V1•PV interneurons maintain relatively stable modulation by visual and behavioral context•Majority of excitatory neurons are stably modulated by behavioral context Using chronic in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, Ranson shows that, while subsets of highly active excitatory neurons and PV+ interneurons are stably influenced by contextual factors, less active neurons are subject to experience-dependent plasticity of these influences.