JN Fuel your research with LabChart
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


J Neurophysiol (December 24, 2003). doi:10.1152/jn.00906.2003
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
91/5/2010    most recent
00906.2003v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Webber, R. M.
Right arrow Articles by Stanley, G. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Webber, R. M.
Right arrow Articles by Stanley, G. B.
Submitted on September 16, 2003
Accepted on December 16, 2003

Nonlinear Encoding of Tactile Patterns in the Barrel Cortex

Roxanna M. Webber1 and Garrett B. Stanley2*

1 Division of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard-MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
2 Division of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gstanley{at}deas.harvard.edu.

Cells in the rodent barrel cortex respond to vibrissa deflection with a brief excitatory component and a longer suppressive component. The response to a given deflection is thus scaled due to suppression induced by a preceding deflection, causing the neuronal response to be linked to the temporal properties of the peripheral stimulus. A paired-deflection stimulus was used to characterize the post-excitatory suppression and a three-deflection stimulus was used to investigate the nonlinear response to patterns of whisker deflections in barbiturate anesthetized Sprague Dawley rats. The post-excitatory suppression was not dependent upon a sensory-evoked action potential to the first deflection, implying that it is likely a subthreshold property of the network. The suppression induced by a deflection served to suppress both the excitatory and suppressive components of a subsequent neuronal response, thus effectively disinhibiting it. Two different response properties were observed in the recorded cells. Approximately 65% responded to a vibrissa deflection with an excitatory component followed by a suppressive component and 35% responded with excitation, suppression, and a subsequent rebound in excitation. Based on these observations of post-excitatory dynamics, a prediction method was used to estimate neuronal responses to more complex stimulus trains. Using the second-order representation obtained from the paired-deflection stimulus, responses to general periodic deflection patterns were well predicted. A higher cut-off frequency was predicted for rebound cells as compared to cells not exhibiting rebound excitation, consistent with experimental observations. The method also predicted the response of neurons to a random aperiodic deflection pattern. Therefore, the temporal structure of cortical dynamics following a single deflection dictates the response to complex temporal patterns, which are more representative of stimuli encountered under natural conditions.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
M. Diaz-Quesada and M. Maravall
Intrinsic Mechanisms for Adaptive Gain Rescaling in Barrel Cortex
J. Neurosci., January 16, 2008; 28(3): 696 - 710.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurophysiol.Home page
P. J. Drew and D. E. Feldman
Representation of Moving Wavefronts of Whisker Deflection in Rat Somatosensory Cortex
J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2007; 98(3): 1566 - 1580.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
A. Devor, P. Tian, N. Nishimura, I. C. Teng, E. M. C. Hillman, S. N. Narayanan, I. Ulbert, D. A. Boas, D. Kleinfeld, and A. M. Dale
Suppressed Neuronal Activity and Concurrent Arteriolar Vasoconstriction May Explain Negative Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent Signal
J. Neurosci., April 18, 2007; 27(16): 4452 - 4459.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
T. Celikel and B. Sakmann
Sensory integration across space and in time for decision making in the somatosensory system of rodents
PNAS, January 23, 2007; 104(4): 1395 - 1400.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
D. Derdikman, C. Yu, S. Haidarliu, K. Bagdasarian, A. Arieli, and E. Ahissar
Layer-Specific Touch-Dependent Facilitation and Depression in the Somatosensory Cortex during Active Whisking.
J. Neurosci., September 13, 2006; 26(37): 9538 - 9547.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Cereb CortexHome page
H. Hentschke, F. Haiss, and C. Schwarz
Central Signals Rapidly Switch Tactile Processing in Rat Barrel Cortex during Whisker Movements
Cereb Cortex, August 1, 2006; 16(8): 1142 - 1156.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurophysiol.Home page
E. F. Civillico and D. Contreras
Integration of Evoked Responses in Supragranular Cortex Studied With Optical Recordings In Vivo
J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2006; 96(1): 336 - 351.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurophysiol.Home page
R. M. Webber and G. B. Stanley
Transient and Steady-State Dynamics of Cortical Adaptation
J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2006; 95(5): 2923 - 2932.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurophysiol.Home page
D. Golomb, E. Ahissar, and D. Kleinfeld
Coding of Stimulus Frequency by Latency in Thalamic Networks Through the Interplay of GABAB-Mediated Feedback and Stimulus Shape
J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2006; 95(3): 1735 - 1750.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Visit Other APS Journals Online
Copyright © 2003 by the The American Physiological Society.