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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 1, 2003, 23(7):2961

Cell Type-Specific Circuits of Cortical Layer IV Spiny Neurons

Dirk Schubert¹, Rolf Kötter^{1, 2}, Karl Zilles^{1, 3}, Heiko J. Luhmann⁴, and Jochen F. Staiger¹

¹ C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, ² Institute of Morphological Endocrinology and Histochemistry, University of Duesseldorf, D-40001 Duesseldorf, Germany, ³ Institute of Medicine, Research Centre Juelich, D-52425 Juelich, Germany, and ⁴ Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Mainz, D-55128 Mainz, Germany

Sensory signal processing in cortical layer IV involves two major morphological classes of excitatory neurons: spiny stellate and pyramidal cells. It is essentially unknown how these two cell types are integrated into intracortical networks and whether they play different roles in cortical signal processing. We mapped their cell-specific intracortical afferents in rat somatosensory cortex through a combination of whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and caged glutamate photolysis. Spiny stellate cells received monosynaptic excitation and inhibition originating almost exclusively from neurons located within the same barrel. Pyramidal cells, by contrast, displayed additional excitatory inputs from nongranular layers and from neighboring barrels. Their inhibitory inputs originated, as for spiny stellate cells, mainly from neurons located in the same barrel. These results indicate that spiny stellate cells act predominantly as local signal processors within a single barrel, whereas pyramidal cells globally integrate horizontal and top-down information within a functional column and between neighboring barrels.

Key words: barrel cortex; layer IV; pyramidal cell; spiny stellate cell; functional connectivity; excitatory inputs; inhibitory inputs; morphology; electrophysiology; biocytin; caged glutamate; somatosensory; slices

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Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/03/2372961-10$05.00/0

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