Spatial gradients and inhibitory summation in the rat whisker barrel system

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Brumberg ◽  
D. J. Pinto ◽  
D. J. Simons
Keyword(s):  
Background Activity ◽  
Random Noise ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Spatial Gradient ◽  
Normal Female ◽  
Noise Stimulus ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Medial Nucleus ◽  
Posterior Medial Nucleus

1. Extracellular single-unit recordings and controlled whisker stimuli were used to compare response properties of cells in the barreloids of the ventral posterior medial nucleus of the thalamus and the barrels in the rat primary somatosensory cortex. Whiskers were deflected alone or in combinations involving up to four immediately adjacent whiskers to assess their relative inhibitory and excitatory contributions to individual receptive fields. Quantitative data were obtained from 51 thalamocortical units (TCUs), 79 "regular-spiking" barrel neurons (RSUs), and 5 "fast-spiking" barrel neurons (FSUs) in 28 normal female adult rats. 2. A random-noise generator was used to produce small, continuously varying whisker movements that were applied to one to four adjacent whiskers while the principal (columnar) whisker was displaced with the use of a ramp-and-hold deflection. RSUs displayed adjacent whisker-evoked inhibition that increased as the number of adjacent whiskers stimulated was incremented. Asymptotic levels of inhibition were reached with the application of the noise stimulus to two or three adjacent whiskers depending on which particular combinations were deflected. By contrast, TCUs and FSUs showed weak, or no, surround inhibition. 3. As the number of adjacent whiskers stimulated increased, the background (prestimulus) activity in TCUs and FSUs increased, whereas displayed background activity in RSUs was relatively unaffected. The increase in background activity observed in the FSUs is hypothesized to mediate adjacent whisker-evoked inhibition in the RSUs. 4. A spatial gradient of adjacent whisker inhibition was observed in RSUs. The caudally adjacent whisker evoked more inhibition than the rostrally adjacent whisker, and the ventral more than the dorsal. A cortical origin for the gradient is suggested by the finding that TCUs did not show a spatial inhibitory gradient. 5. As the noise stimulus was applied to an increasing number of adjacent whiskers, RSUs became more sharply tuned for deflection angles. Neither TCUs nor FSUs showed increases in angular tuning. 6. Inhibition worked disproportionately in RSUs to inhibit those responses that were initially the least robust. For example, inhibition was most effective at reducing responses to nonpreferred versus preferred whisker deflection angles. 7. To assess the principal whisker's effect on adjacent whisker excitatory responses, the noise stimulus was applied to the principal whisker. In RSUs, principal whisker-evoked inhibition was more potent than adjacent whisker-evoked inhibition. FSUs were excited to a greater extent by the application of the noise stimulus to the principal whisker than to adjacent whiskers. TCUs did not display principal whisker-evoked inhibition. 8. Inhibition within the barrel serves as a contrast enhancement mechanism to differentiate small versus large magnitude responses. Less vigorous responses, such as those associated with perturbations of noncolumnar whiskers and inputs from nonoptimal deflection angles, are more strongly suppressed. During active touch, when many whiskers simultaneously palpate an object, these inhibitory interactions could effectively increase the "principal whiskerness" of the cortical column.

Neonatal Whisker Removal Reduces the Discrimination of Tactile Stimuli by Thalamic Ensembles in Adult Rats

1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 1691-1706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. L. Nicolelis ◽  
Rick C. S. Lin ◽  
John K. Chapin
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
The Body ◽  
Single Neurons ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Medial Nucleus ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Posterior Medial Nucleus ◽  
Receptive Field Organization ◽  
Stimulus Offset

Nicolelis, Miguel A. L., Rick C. S. Lin, and John K. Chapin. Neonatal whisker removal reduces the discrimination of tactile stimuli by thalamic ensembles in adult rats. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 1691–1706, 1997. Simultaneous recordings of up to 48 single neurons per animal were used to characterize the long-term functional effects of sensory plastic modifications in the ventral posterior medial nucleus (VPM) of the thalamus following unilateral removal of facial whiskers in newborn rats. One year after this neonatal whisker deprivation, neurons in the contralateral VPM responded to cutaneous stimulation of the face at much longer minimal latencies (15.2 ± 8.2 ms, mean ± SD) than did normal cells (8.8 ± 5.3 ms) in the same subregion of the VPM. In 69% of these neurons, the initial sensory responses to stimulus offset were followed for up to 700 ms by reverberant trains of bursting discharge, alternating in 100-ms cycles with inhibition. Receptive fields in the deafferented VPM were also atypical in that they extended over the entire face, shoulder, forepaw, hindpaw, and even ipsilateral whiskers. Discriminant analysis (DA) was then used to statistically evaluate how this abnormal receptive field organization might affect the ability of thalamocortical neuronal populations to “discriminate” somatosensory stimulus location. To standardize this analysis, three stimulus targets (“groups”) were chosen in all animals such that they triangulated the central region of the “receptive field” of the recorded multineuronal ensemble. In the normal animals these stimulus targets were whiskers or perioral hairs; in the deprived animals the targets typically included hairy skin of the body as well as face. The measured variables consisted of each neuron's spiking response to each stimulus differentiated into three poststimulus response epochs (0–15, 15–30, and 30–45 ms). DA quantified the statistical contribution of each of these variables to its overall discrimination between the three stimulus sites. In the normal animals, the stimulus locations were correctly classified in 88.2 ± 3.7% of trials on the basis of the spatiotemporal patterns of ensemble activity derived from up to 18 single neurons. In the deprived animals, the stimulus locations were much less consistently discriminated (reduced to 73.5 ± 12.6%; difference from controls significant at P < 0.01) despite the fact that much more widely spaced stimulus targets were used and even when up to 20 neurons were included in the ensemble. Overall, these results suggest that neonatal damage to peripheral sense organs may produce marked changes in the physiology of individual neurons in the somatosensory thalamus. Moreover, the present demonstration that these changes can profoundly alter sensory discrimination at the level of neural populations in the thalamus provides important evidence that the well-known perceptual effects of chronic peripheral deprivation may be partially attributable to plastic reorganization at subcortical levels.

scholarly journals Responses of thalamic neurons to itch- and pain-producing stimuli in rats

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 1119-1134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Lipshetz ◽  
Sergey G. Khasabov ◽  
Hai Truong ◽  
Theoden I. Netoff ◽  
Donald A. Simone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Unit ◽  
Electrophysiological Study ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cell Column ◽  
Thalamic Neurons ◽  
Medial Nucleus ◽  
Anesthetized Rats ◽  
Transmission Of Information ◽  
Posterior Medial Nucleus

Understanding of processing and transmission of information related to itch and pain in the thalamus is incomplete. In fact, no single unit studies of pruriceptive transmission in the thalamus have yet appeared. In urethane-anesthetized rats, we examined responses of 66 thalamic neurons to itch- and pain- inducing stimuli including chloroquine, serotonin, β-alanine, histamine, and capsaicin. Eighty percent of all cells were activated by intradermal injections of one or more pruritogens. Forty percent of tested neurons responded to injection of three, four, or even five agents. Almost half of the examined neurons had mechanically defined receptive fields that extended onto distant areas of the body. Pruriceptive neurons were located within what appeared to be a continuous cell column extending from the posterior triangular nucleus (PoT) caudally to the ventral posterior medial nucleus (VPM) rostrally. All neurons tested within PoT were found to be pruriceptive. In addition, neurons in this nucleus responded at higher frequencies than did those in VPM, an indication that PoT might prove to be a particularly interesting region for additional studies of itch transmission. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Processing of information related to itch within in the thalamus is not well understood, We show in this, the first single-unit electrophysiological study of responses of thalamic neurons to pruritogens, that itch-responsive neurons are concentrated in two nuclei within the rat thalamus, the posterior triangular, and the ventral posterior medial nuclei.

scholarly journals Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Distribution during Chemotactic Responses

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3873-3883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryse Bailly ◽  
Jeffrey Wyckoff ◽  
Boumediene Bouzahzah ◽  
Ross Hammerman ◽  
Vonetta Sylvestre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Growth Factor ◽  
Epidermal Growth Factor ◽  
Egf Receptor ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Growth Factor Receptor ◽  
Spatial Gradient ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Epidermal Growth ◽  
Green Fluorescent

To determine the distribution of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) on the surface of cells responding to EGF as a chemoattractant, an EGFR-green fluorescent protein chimera was expressed in the MTLn3 mammary carcinoma cell line. The chimera was functional and easily visualized on the cell surface. In contrast to other studies indicating that the EGFR might be localized to certain regions of the plasma membrane, we found that the chimera is homogeneously distributed on the plasma membrane and becomes most concentrated in vesicles after endocytosis. In spatial gradients of EGF, endocytosed receptor accumulates on the upgradient side of the cell. Visualization of the binding of fluorescent EGF to cells reveals that the affinity properties of the receptor, together with its expression level on cells, can provide an initial amplification step in spatial gradient sensing.

scholarly journals Encoding of Stimulus Frequency and Sensor Motion in the Posterior Medial Thalamic Nucleus

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 681-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radi Masri ◽  
Tatiana Bezdudnaya ◽  
Jason C. Trageser ◽  
Asaf Keller
Keyword(s):  
Barrel Cortex ◽  
Stimulus Frequency ◽  
Response Duration ◽  
Stimulation Frequency ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Medial Nucleus ◽  
Anesthetized Rats ◽  
Reticular Activating System ◽  
Parallel Streams ◽  
Posterior Medial Nucleus

In all sensory systems, information is processed along several parallel streams. In the vibrissa-to-barrel cortex system, these include the lemniscal system and the lesser-known paralemniscal system. The posterior medial nucleus (POm) is the thalamic structure associated with the latter pathway. Previous studies suggested that POm response latencies are positively correlated with stimulation frequency and negatively correlated with response duration, providing a basis for a phase locked loop-temporal decoding of stimulus frequency. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing response latencies of POm neurons, in both awake and anesthetized rats, to vibrissae deflections at frequencies between 0.3 and 11 Hz. We found no significant, systematic correlation between stimulation frequency and the latency or duration of POm responses. We obtained similar findings from recording in awake rats, in rats under different anesthetics, and in anesthetized rats in which the reticular activating system was stimulated. These findings suggest that stimulus frequency is not reliably reflected in response latency of POm neurons. We also tested the hypothesis that POm neurons respond preferentially to sensor motion, that is, they respond to whisking in air, without contacts. We recorded from awake, head-restrained rats while monitoring vibrissae movements. All POm neurons responded to passive whisker deflections, but none responded to noncontact whisking. Thus like their counterparts in the trigeminal ganglion, POm neurons may not reliably encode whisking kinematics. These observations suggest that POm neurons might not faithfully encode vibrissae inputs to provide reliable information on vibrissae movements or contacts.

scholarly journals Integration of signals from different cortical areas in higher order thalamic neurons

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (30) ◽  
pp. e2104137118
Author(s):  
Vandana Sampathkumar ◽  
Andrew Miller-Hansen ◽  
S. Murray Sherman ◽  
Narayanan Kasthuri
Keyword(s):  
Higher Order ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Thalamic Neurons ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Medial Nucleus ◽  
Afferent Information ◽  
Posterior Medial Nucleus ◽  
Depth And Complexity ◽  
Genetic Labeling

Higher order thalamic neurons receive driving inputs from cortical layer 5 and project back to the cortex, reflecting a transthalamic route for corticocortical communication. To determine whether or not individual neurons integrate signals from different cortical populations, we combined electron microscopy “connectomics” in mice with genetic labeling to disambiguate layer 5 synapses from somatosensory and motor cortices to the higher order thalamic posterior medial nucleus. A significant convergence of these inputs was found on 19 of 33 reconstructed thalamic cells, and as a population, the layer 5 synapses were larger and located more proximally on dendrites than were unlabeled synapses. Thus, many or most of these thalamic neurons do not simply relay afferent information but instead integrate signals as disparate in this case as those emanating from sensory and motor cortices. These findings add further depth and complexity to the role of the higher order thalamus in overall cortical functioning.

scholarly journals Target-specific M1 inputs to infragranular S1 pyramidal neurons

2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 1261-1274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Kinnischtzke ◽  
Erika E. Fanselow ◽  
Daniel J. Simons
Keyword(s):  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Medial Nucleus ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Posterior Medial Nucleus

The functional role of input from the primary motor cortex (M1) to primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is unclear; one key to understanding this pathway may lie in elucidating the cell-type specific microcircuits that connect S1 and M1. Recently, we discovered that a subset of pyramidal neurons in the infragranular layers of S1 receive especially strong input from M1 (Kinnischtzke AK, Simons DJ, Fanselow EE. Cereb Cortex 24: 2237–2248, 2014), suggesting that M1 may affect specific classes of pyramidal neurons differently. Here, using combined optogenetic and retrograde labeling approaches in the mouse, we examined the strengths of M1 inputs to five classes of infragranular S1 neurons categorized by their projections to particular cortical and subcortical targets. We found that the magnitude of M1 synaptic input to S1 pyramidal neurons varies greatly depending on the projection target of the postsynaptic neuron. Of the populations examined, M1-projecting corticocortical neurons in L6 received the strongest M1 inputs, whereas ventral posterior medial nucleus-projecting corticothalamic neurons, also located in L6, received the weakest. Each population also possessed distinct intrinsic properties. The results suggest that M1 differentially engages specific classes of S1 projection neurons, thereby regulating the motor-related influence S1 exerts over subcortical structures.

scholarly journals Development of Thalamocortical Response Transformations in the Rat Whisker-Barrel System

2008 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 356-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Shoykhet ◽  
Daniel J. Simons
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Thalamic Neurons ◽  
Response Properties ◽  
Temporal Domain

Extracellular single-unit recordings were used to characterize responses of thalamic barreloid and cortical barrel neurons to controlled whisker deflections in 2, 3-, and 4-wk-old and adult rats in vivo under fentanyl analgesia. Results indicate that response properties of thalamic and cortical neurons diverge during development. Responses to deflection onsets and offsets among thalamic neurons mature in parallel, whereas among cortical neurons responses to deflection offsets become disproportionately smaller with age. Thalamic neuron receptive fields become more multiwhisker, whereas those of cortical neurons become more single-whisker. Thalamic neurons develop a higher degree of angular selectivity, whereas that of cortical neurons remains constant. In the temporal domain, response latencies decrease both in thalamic and cortical neurons, but the maturation time-course differs between the two populations. Response latencies of thalamic cells decrease primarily between 2 and 3 wk of life, whereas response latencies of cortical neurons decrease in two distinct steps—the first between 2 and 3 wk of life and the second between the fourth postnatal week and adulthood. Although the first step likely reflects similar subcortical changes, the second phase likely corresponds to developmental myelination of thalamocortical fibers. Divergent development of thalamic and cortical response properties indicates that thalamocortical circuits in the whisker-to-barrel pathway undergo protracted maturation after 2 wk of life and provides a potential substrate for experience-dependent plasticity during this time.

scholarly journals Laser ultrasonic imaging of wavefield spatial gradients for damage detection

2020 ◽  
pp. 147592172095133
Author(s):  
Zihan Wu ◽  
See Yenn Chong ◽  
Michael D Todd
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Ultrasonic Imaging ◽  
Image Processing Technique ◽  
Spatial Gradient ◽  
Spatial Covariance ◽  
Laser Ultrasonic ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Orientation Map ◽  
Scanning Area ◽  
Damage Visualization

This article describes a new damage visualization method to investigate and analyze propagating guided Lamb waves using analyses of wavefield spatial gradients. A laser ultrasonic interrogation system was used to create full-field ultrasonic data measurements for ultrasonic wavefield imaging. The laser scanning process was performed based on both a raster scan and a circle scan. From the high-resolution wavefield data, a spatial gradient–based image processing technique was developed using gradient vectors to extract features sensitive to defects. Local impedance changes at the damaged area would result in a local distortion of the waveform which was captured and quantified by the variation of the gradient vectors in the scanning area as time evolves. Such variation was accumulated over time with a statistical threshold filter to generate a gradient-orientation map for damage visualization. The proposed algorithm was capable of producing distinctive damage patterns when tested experimentally on a 3-mm aluminum plate with multiple simultaneous simulated defects. Compared to conventional techniques like local wavenumber estimation, the generation of the accumulated orientation map involves no filtering process in the frequency or wavenumber domain, at the expense of more accurate shaping of the defect. A spatial covariance analysis was adopted to locate damage from the results as well as to evaluate the correlation between different kinds of defects. Combining the proposed approach with conventional laser ultrasonic imaging techniques enables a fast and robust damage identification and characterization process which requires lower computational burden and practical operation.

Differential Gene Expression of Endothelial Cells Under High Wall Shear Stress and Spatial Gradients

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Dolan ◽  
Song Liu ◽  
Hui Meng ◽  
John Kolega
Keyword(s):  
Shear Stress ◽  
Wall Shear Stress ◽  
Vessel Wall ◽  
Cerebral Aneurysms ◽  
In Vivo Studies ◽  
Spatial Gradient ◽  
Flow Acceleration ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Wall Shear

In both human and animal models, cerebral aneurysms tend to develop at the apices of bifurcations in the cerebral vasculature. Due to the focal nature of aneurysm development it has long been speculated that hemodynamics are an important factor in aneurysm susceptibility. The local hemodynamics of bifurcations are complex, being characterized by flow impingement causing a high frictional force on the vessel wall known as wall shear stress (WSS) and significant flow acceleration or deceleration, manifested as the positive or negative spatial gradient of WSS (WSSG). In vivo studies have recently identified that aneurysm initiation occurs at areas of the vessel wall that experience a combination of both high WSS and positive WSSG [1,2]

scholarly journals The accuracy of membrane potential reconstruction based on spiking receptive fields

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (8) ◽  
pp. 2143-2153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepankar Mohanty ◽  
Benjamin Scholl ◽  
Nicholas J. Priebe
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Spike Rate ◽  
Rate Data ◽  
Noise Stimulus ◽  
Synaptic Inputs ◽  
Common Technique ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Membrane Potential Fluctuations

A common technique used to study the response selectivity of neurons is to measure the relationship between sensory stimulation and action potential responses. Action potentials, however, are only indirectly related to the synaptic inputs that determine the underlying, subthreshold, response selectivity. We present a method to predict membrane potential, the measurable result of the convergence of synaptic inputs, based on spike rate alone and then test its utility by comparing predictions to actual membrane potential recordings from simple cells in primary visual cortex. Using a noise stimulus, we found that spike rate receptive fields were in precise correspondence with membrane potential receptive fields ( R2 = 0.74). On average, spike rate alone could predict 44% of membrane potential fluctuations to dynamic noise stimuli, demonstrating the utility of this method to extract estimates of subthreshold responses. We also found that the nonlinear relationship between membrane potential and spike rate could also be extracted from spike rate data alone by comparing predictions from the noise stimulus with the actual spike rate. Our analysis reveals that linear receptive field models extracted from noise stimuli accurately reflect the underlying membrane potential selectivity and thus represent a method to generate estimates of the underlying average membrane potential from spike rate data alone.

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