Properties of precise firing synchrony between synaptically coupled cortical interneurons depend on their mode of coupling.

Precise spike synchrony has been widely reported in the central nervous system, but its functional role in encoding, processing, and transmitting information is yet unresolved. Of particular interest is firing synchrony between inhibitory cortical interneurons, thought to drive various cortical rhythms such as gamma oscillations, the hallmark of cognitive states. Precise synchrony can arise between two interneurons connected electrically, through gap junctions, chemically, through fast inhibitory synapses, or dually, through both types of connections, but the properties of synchrony generated by these different modes of connectivity have never been compared in the same data set. In the present study we recorded in vitro from 152 homotypic pairs of two major subtypes of mouse neocortical interneurons: parvalbumin-containing, fast-spiking (FS) interneurons and somatostatin-containing (SOM) interneurons. We tested firing synchrony when the two neurons were driven to fire by long, depolarizing current steps and used a novel synchrony index to quantify the strength of synchrony, its temporal precision, and its dependence on firing rate. We found that SOM-SOM synchrony, driven solely by electrical coupling, was less precise than FS-FS synchrony, driven by inhibitory or dual coupling. Unlike SOM-SOM synchrony, FS-FS synchrony was strongly firing rate dependent and was not evident at the prototypical 40-Hz gamma frequency. Computer simulations reproduced these differences in synchrony without assuming any differences in intrinsic properties, suggesting that the mode of coupling is more important than the interneuron subtype. Our results provide novel insights into the mechanisms and properties of interneuron synchrony and point out important caveats in current models of cortical oscillations.