title: Bicuculline-induced alterations in neuronal responses to controlled tactile stimuli in the second somatosensory cortex of the cat: a microiontophoretic study.
abstract: Single-neuron activity (n = 29) was recorded from the second somatosensory cortex of cats, and the effect of glutamate, gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA), and bicuculline methiodide (BMI) on spontaneous and stimulus-induced responses were analyzed. Iontophoresis of glutamate produced dose-dependent increases in spontaneous activity, whereas GABA suppressed both spontaneous and glutamate-induced activity. Neuronal responses elicited by cutaneous stimuli were also inhibited by GABA in a dose-dependent fashion; current levels needed to produce at least a 25-50% decrease in stimulus-evoked activity ranged from 5 to 100 nA, with a mean of about 45 nA. Iontophoresis of BMI (10-75 nA) effectively antagonized GABA-induced inhibition of stimulus-evoked responses without altering spontaneous activity. Furthermore, BMI increased the magnitude of responses produced by ramp stimuli and caused a several-fold increase in receptive field size. For neurons responsive to sinusoidal stimulation, BMI caused an increase in the frequency-following probability at preferred frequencies, but failed to alter the response to nonpreferred frequencies. These results suggest that GABA-ergic circuits may limit response magnitude but not the submodality properties of somatosensory cortical neurons.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001640:Bicuculline / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002415:Cats; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000187:drug effects; D005971:Glutamates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D007478:Iontophoresis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008845:Microinjections; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D014110:Touch / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D005971:Glutamates; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D001640:Bicuculline