Basal forebrain parvalbumin neurons modulate vigilant attention

Attention is impaired in many neuropsychiatric disorders[1][1] and by sleep disruption, leading to decreased workplace productivity and increased risk of accidents[2][2]–[4][3]. Thus, understanding the underlying neural substrates is important for developing treatments. The basal forebrain (BF) is a brain region which degenerates in dementia[5][4]–[7][5] and is implicated in the negative effects of sleep disruption on vigilance and cognition[8][6],[9][7]. Previous studies demonstrated that the BF controls cortical fast oscillations that underlie attention[10][8]–[12][9] and revealed the important role of cholinergic neurons[13][10]–[15][11]. However, the role of other neurochemically defined BF subtypes is unknown. Recent work has shown that one population of BF GABAergic neurons containing the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV) control cortical fast oscillations and arousals from sleep[16][12]–[19][13] but their role in awake behavior is unclear. Thus, here we test the hypothesis that BF-PV neurons modulate vigilant attention in mice. A lever release version of the rodent psychomotor vigilance test (rPVT) was used to assess vigilant attention as measured by reaction time. Brief and continuous low power optogenetic excitation of BF-PV neurons (1s,473nm@5mW) that preceded the cue light signal by 0.5s improved vigilant attention as indicated by quicker reaction times. In contrast, both sleep deprivation (8h) and optogenetic inhibition of BF-PV neurons (1s,530nm@10mW) slowed reaction times. Importantly, BF-PV excitation rescued the reaction time deficits in sleep deprived mice. These findings reveal for the first time a role for BF-PV neurons in attention. HIGHLIGHTS ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #ref-2 [3]: #ref-4 [4]: #ref-5 [5]: #ref-7 [6]: #ref-8 [7]: #ref-9 [8]: #ref-10 [9]: #ref-12 [10]: #ref-13 [11]: #ref-15 [12]: #ref-16 [13]: #ref-19