Frontal top-down cortical neurons projecting to sensory cortical regions are well-positioned to integrate long-range inputs with local circuitry in frontal cortex to implement top-down attentional control of sensory regions. How adolescent period contributes to the maturation of top-down neurons and associated local/long-range input balance, and the establishment of attentional control is poorly understood. Here we combine projection-specific electrophysiological and rabies-mediated input mapping in mice to uncover adolescence as a developmental stage when frontal top-down neurons projecting from the anterior cingulate to visual cortex are highly functionally integrated into local excitatory circuitry and have heightened activity compared to adulthood. Chemogenetic suppression of top-down neuron activity selectively during adolescence, but not later periods, produces long-lasting visual attentional behavior deficits, and results in excessive loss of local excitatory inputs in adulthood. Our study reveals an adolescent sensitive period when top-down neurons integrate local circuits with long-range connectivity to produce attentional behavior.

中文翻译：

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青春期额叶自上而下的神经元受到增强的局部驱动力，从而在小鼠中建立成年注意力行为

投射到感觉皮层区域的额叶自上而下的皮质神经元位置适当，可以将远程输入与额叶皮质中的局部电路相集成，以实现对感觉区域的自上而下的注意力控制。青春期如何促进自上而下的神经元的成熟以及相关的局部/远程输入平衡，而对注意力控制的建立知之甚少。在这里，我们结合了小鼠中特定于投射的电生理学和狂犬病介导的输入图谱，以揭示青春期作为发育阶段，这是从前扣带回投射到视觉皮层的额上，自上而下的神经元高度功能性地整合到局部兴奋性回路中，并且与成年。在青春期选择性地化学抑制自上而下的神经元活性，但不会在后期产生长期的视觉注意行为缺陷，并导致成年后局部兴奋性投入的大量损失。我们的研究揭示了一个自上而下的神经元将局部电路与远程连接整合在一起以产生注意力行为的青春期敏感时期。