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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 92/1/144    most recent 00598.2003v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI 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 ISI Web of Science (9) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Maravall, M. Articles by Svoboda, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Maravall, M. Articles by Svoboda, K.

Development of Intrinsic Properties and Excitability of Layer 2/3 Pyramidal Neurons During a Critical Period for Sensory Maps in Rat Barrel Cortex

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724

Submitted 23 June 2003; accepted in final form 12 February 2004

The development of layer 2/3 sensory maps in rat barrel cortex (BC) is experience dependent with a critical period around postnatal days (PND) 10–14. The role of intrinsic response properties of neurons in this plasticity has not been investigated. Here we characterize the development of BC layer 2/3 intrinsic responses to identify possible sites of plasticity. Whole cell recordings were performed on pyramidal cells in acute BC slices from control and deprived rats, over ages spanning the critical period (PND 12, 14, and 17). Vibrissa trimming began at PND 9. Spiking behavior changed from phasic (more spike frequency adaptation) to regular (less adaptation) with age, such that the number of action potentials per stimulus increased. Changes in spiking properties were related to the strength of a slow Ca²⁺-dependent afterhyperpolarization. Maturation of the spiking properties of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons coincided with the close of the critical period and was delayed by deprivation. Other measures of excitability, including I-f curves and passive membrane properties, were affected by development but unaffected by whisker deprivation.

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