Dr. Michael Halassa Explores Thalamic Microcircuit Diversity: From Inhibitory Cell Types to Cognitive Function
Understanding how the brain flexibly controls behavior depends on dissecting the tiny networks—microcircuits—that orchestrate inhibition and excitation. Dr. Michael Halassa’s recent work highlights how diverse inhibitory interneurons (PV, SOM, VIP) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are engaged by different thalamic microcircuits, especially the mediodorsal (MD) and ventromedial (VM) nuclei, to support complex cognitive function. Here's a detailed, research-verified look at his discoveries. Bridging Thalamus and Interneurons In the 2024 Nature Communications paper by Halassa et al., the team built biologically constrained recurrent neural network models to simulate PFC-MD interactions. These models explicitly included three major inhibitory subtypes—parvalbumin-positive (PV), somatostatin-positive (SOM), and vasoactive intestinal peptide-positive (VIP) neurons—to reflect their distinct roles in cortex function. PV cells: Target excitatory somas, mediating fast feedforward inhibiti...