Acquisition of non-olfactory encoding improves odor discrimination in olfactory cortex

FEDERMAN, NOEL; ROMANO, SEBASTIÁN A.; AMIGO DURÁN, MACARENA; SALOMON, LUCCA; MARIN-BURGIN, ANTONIA

Congreso; Congreso Anual XXXVIII de la Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias; 2023

Olfaction is influenced by contextual factors, past experiences, and the animal’s internalstate. Whether these information is integrated at the initial stages of cortical odourprocessing is not known, nor how these signals may influence odour encoding. Here werevealed multiple and diverse non-olfactory responses in the primary olfactory (piriform)cortex (PCx), which dynamically enhance PCx odour discrimination according tobehavioural demands. We performed recordings of PCx neurons from mice trained in avirtual reality to associate odours with visual contexts to obtain a reward. We found thatlearning shifts PCx activity from encoding solely odours to a regime in which positional,contextual, and associative responses emerge on odour-responsive neurons thatbecome mixed-selective. The modulation of PCx activity by these non-olfactory signalswas dynamic, improving odour decoding during task engagement and in rewardedcontexts. This improvement relied on the acquired mixed-selectivity, demonstrating howintegrating extra-sensory inputs in sensory cortices can enhance sensory processingwhile encoding the behavioural relevance of stimuli.