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Stimulus intensity determines experience-dependent modifications in neocortical neuron firing rates.

Glazewski, Stanislaw; Barth, Alison L.

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Authors

Stanislaw Glazewski

Alison L. Barth



Abstract

Although subthreshold inputs of neocortical sensory neurons are broadly tuned, the spiking output is more restricted. These subthreshold inputs provide a substrate for stimulus intensity-dependent changes their spiking output, as well as for experience-dependent plasticity to alter firing properties. Here we investigated how different stimulus intensities modified the firing output of individual neurons in layer 2/3 of the mouse barrel cortex. Decreasing stimulus intensity over a 30-fold range lowered the firing rates evoked by principal whisker stimulation and reduced the overall size of the responding ensemble in whisker-undeprived animals. We then examined how these responses were changed after single-whisker experience (SWE). After 7 days of SWE, the mean magnitude of response to spared whisker stimulation at the highest stimulus intensity was not altered. However, lower-intensity whisker stimulation revealed a more than 10-fold increase in mean firing output compared with control animals. Also, under control conditions, only ~15% of neurons showed any firing at low stimulus intensity, compared with more than 70% of neurons after SWE. However, response changes measured in the immediately surrounding representations were detected only for the highest stimulus intensity. Overall, these data showed that the measurement of experience-dependent changes in the spike output of neocortical neurons was highly dependent upon stimulus intensity.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 18, 2014
Publication Date Feb 1, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Eur J Neurosci
Print ISSN 0953-816X
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 41
Issue 4
Pages 410 - 419
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.12805
Keywords cortical circuitry;glutamatergic neurotransmission;learning and memory;mouse;neocortex;plasticity
Publisher URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejn.12805/suppinfo

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