Coherent olfactory bulb gamma oscillations arise from coupling independent columnar oscillators
AbstractSpike timing-based representations of sensory information depend on embedded dynamical frameworks within neural structures that establish the rules of local computation and interareal communication. Here, we investigated the dynamical properties of mouse olfactory bulb circuitry. Neurochemical activation or optogenetic stimulation of sensory afferents evoked persistent (minutes) gamma oscillations in the local field potential. These oscillations arose from slower, GABA(A) receptor-independent intracolumnar oscillators coupled by GABA(A)-ergic synapses into a faster, broadly coherent network oscillation. Consistent with the theoretical properties of coupled-oscillator networks, the spatial extent of zero-phase coherence was bounded in slices by the reduced density of lateral interactions. The intact in vivo network, however, exhibits long-range lateral interactions theoretically sufficient to enable zero-phase coherence across the complete network. These coupled-oscillator dynamics thereby establish a common clock, robust to biological heterogeneities, that is capable of supporting gamma-band phase coding across the spiking output of olfactory bulb principal neurons.