Neuron
Volume 42, Issue 5, 10 June 2004, Pages 789-801
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Article
Precise Development of Functional and Anatomical Columns in the Neocortex

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Abstract

Sensory cortex is ordered into columns, each tuned to a subset of peripheral stimuli. To identify the principles underlying the construction of columnar architecture, we monitored the development of circuits in the rat barrel cortex, using laser-scanning photostimulation analysis of synaptic connectivity, reconstructions of axonal arbors, and in vivo whole-cell recording. Circuits impinging onto layer 2/3 neurons from layers 4 and 2/3 developed in a monotonic, precise progression, with little evidence for transient hyperinnervation at the level of cortical columns. Consistent with this, synaptic currents measured in layer 2/3 neurons at PND 8, just after these neurons ceased to migrate, revealed already spatially well-tuned receptive fields.

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