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Layer- and Cell-Type-Specific Effects of Neonatal Whisker-Trimming in Adult Rat Barrel Cortex

Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Submitted 18 November 2006; accepted in final form 27 March 2007

Tactile deprivation in rats produced by whisker-trimming early in life leads to abnormally robust responses of excitatory neurons in layer 4 of primary somatosensory cortex when the re-grown whiskers are stimulated. Present findings from fast-spike neurons indicate that presumed inhibitory cells fire less robustly under the same conditions. These contrasting effects may reflect altered patterns of thalamocortical input to excitatory versus inhibitory cells and/or changes in the strength of intracortical connections. Despite increased excitability of layer 4, neurons in layer 2/3 respond at control levels even after full whisker re-growth. Layer 4 synapses onto supragranular neurons may be permanently depressed as a result of neonatal sensory deprivation.