Golgi cells regulate timing and variability of information transfer in a cerebellar-behavioural loop

Golgi cells are inhibitory interneurons residing in the input layer of the cerebellar cortex. These neurons sit in a key position to govern the transformation of incoming information from extracerebellar regions and influence downstream cerebellar processing. Here, we examine the contribution of Golgi cells to network dynamics in Crus 1 of mouse lateral cerebellar cortex during free whisking. We recorded neuronal population activity using NeuroPixels probes before and after chemogenetic downregulation of Golgi cell activity. Under resting conditions, cerebellar population activity reliably encoded whisker movements. Reductions in Golgi cell activity produced mild increases in neural activity which did not significantly impair these sensorimotor representations. However, reduced Golgi cell inhibition did increase the temporal alignment of local population network activity at the initiation of movement. These network alterations had variable impacts on behaviour, producing both increases and decreases in whisking velocity. Our results suggest that Golgi cell inhibition primarily governs the temporal patterning of population activity, which in turn is required to support downstream cerebellar dynamics and behavioural coordination.