QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, June 30, 2004, 24(26):5931-5941; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1202-04.2004

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (6) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Erchova, I. A. Articles by Diamond, M. E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Erchova, I. A. Articles by Diamond, M. E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Rapid Fluctuations in Rat Barrel Cortex Plasticity

Irina A. Erchova and Mathew E. Diamond

Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Studies, 34014 Trieste, Italy

Neuronal populations in the sensory cortex exhibit fluctuations in excitability, and the present experiments tested the hypothesis that these variations coincide with peaks and troughs in cortical modifiability. The activity of multiunit neuronal clusters under light urethane anesthesia was recorded through 100-microelectrode arrays implanted in the infragranular layers of rat barrel cortex. Spontaneous activity was characterized by "bursts" of spikes, synchronized across the barrel cortex. This allowed activity at one selected electrode to be taken as a reliable monitor of widespread cortical bursts. We used spikes at the selected electrode to trigger stimulation of two pairs of whiskers during a 50 min conditioning procedure: (1) for the "burst-conditioned" whisker pair, each stimulus was delivered 1 msec after the triggering spike, activating cortex coincident with the burst; and (2) for the "interburst-conditioned" whisker pair, each stimulus was delivered 300 msec after the triggering spike, activating cortex during the trough between bursts. The cross-correlation between cortical neurons in the pairs of columns matching the stimulated whisker pairs was estimated after the termination of the conditioning procedure. Conditioning produced a twofold increase in the degree of co-firing between infragranular neurons in columns receiving burst-conditioned costimulation but no significant change in connectivity between infragranular neurons in columns receiving interburst-conditioned costimulation, although the two pairs of columns received an equal number of sensory inputs. These findings suggest that the strength of co-activity between columns in the barrel cortex can be modified by sensory input patterns during discrete, intermittent intervals time-locked to bursts.

Key words: burst; cortical rhythms; whisker; vibrissa; sensory; anesthesia

---

Received Aug 28, 2003; revised May 12, 2004; accepted May 17, 2004.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Megevand, E. Troncoso, C. Quairiaux, D. Muller, C. M. Michel, and J. Z. Kiss Long-Term Plasticity in Mouse Sensorimotor Circuits after Rhythmic Whisker Stimulation J. Neurosci., April 22, 2009; 29(16): 5326 - 5335. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Ghoshal, P. Pouget, M. Popescu, and F. Ebner Early Bilateral Sensory Deprivation Blocks the Development of Coincident Discharge in Rat Barrel Cortex J. Neurosci., February 25, 2009; 29(8): 2384 - 2392. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Lak, E. Arabzadeh, and M. E. Diamond Enhanced Response of Neurons in Rat Somatosensory Cortex to Stimuli Containing Temporal Noise Cereb Cortex, May 1, 2008; 18(5): 1085 - 1093. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help