Cortical interneurons ensure maintenance of frequency tuning following adaptation

Neurons throughout the sensory pathway are tuned to specific aspects of stimuli. This selectivity is shaped by feedforward and recurrent excitatory-inhibitory interactions. In the auditory cortex (AC), two large classes of interneurons, parvalbumin- (PVs) and somatostatin- positive (SOMs) interneurons, differentially modulate frequency-dependent responses across the frequency response function of excitatory neurons. At the same time, the responsiveness of neurons in AC to sounds is dependent on the temporal context, with the majority of neurons exhibiting adaptation to repeated sounds. Here, we asked whether and how inhibitory neurons shape the frequency response function of excitatory neurons as a function of adaptation to temporal repetition of tones. The effects of suppressing both SOMs and PVs diverged for responses to preferred versus non-preferred frequencies following adaptation. Prior to adaptation, suppressing either SOM or PV inhibition drove both increases and decreases in spiking activity among cortical neurons. After adaptation, suppressing SOM activity caused predominantly disinhibitory effects, whereas suppressing PV activity still evoked bi-directional changes. SOM, but not PV-driven inhibition dynamically modulated frequency tuning as a function of adaptation. Additionally, testing across frequency tuning revealed that, unlike PVs, SOM-driven inhibition exhibited gain-like increases reflective of adaptation. Our findings suggest that distinct cortical interneurons differentially shape tuning to sensory stimuli across the neuronal receptive field, maintaining frequency selectivity of excitatory neurons during adaptation.