title: Innervation of interneurons immunoreactive for VIP by intrinsically bursting pyramidal cells and fast-spiking interneurons in infragranular layers of juvenile rat neocortex.
abstract: Cortical columns contain specific neuronal populations with characteristic sets of connections. This wiring forms the structural basis of dynamic information processing. However, at the single-cell level little is known about specific connectivity patterns. We performed experiments in infragranular layers (V and VI) of rat somatosensory cortex, to clarify further the input patterns of inhibitory interneurons immunoreactive (ir) for vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP). Neurons in acute slices were electrophysiologically characterized using whole-cell recordings and filled with biocytin. This allowed us to determine their firing pattern as regular-spiking, intrinsically bursting and fast-spiking, respectively. Biocytin was revealed histochemically and VIP immunohistochemically. Sections were examined for contacts between the axons of the filled neurons and the VIP-ir targets. Twenty pyramidal cells and five nonpyramidal (inter)neurons were recovered and sufficiently stained for further analysis. Regular-spiking pyramidal cells displayed no axonal boutons in contact with VIP-ir targets. In contrast, intrinsically bursting layer V pyramidal cells showed four putative single contacts with a proximal dendrite of VIP neurons. Fast-spiking interneurons formed contacts with two to six VIP neurons, preferentially at their somata. Single as well as multiple contacts on individual target cells were found. Electron microscopic examinations showed that light-microscopically determined contacts represent sites of synaptic interactions. Our results suggest that, within infragranular local cortical circuits, (i) fast-spiking interneurons are more likely to influence VIP cells than are pyramidal cells and (ii) pyramidal cell input probably needs to be highly convergent to fire VIP target cells.
authors.affiliation: C. and O. Vogt-Institute for Brain Research, University Düsseldorf, POB 101007, D-40001 Düsseldorf, Germany. jochen@hirn.uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: Jochen F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Staiger
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zuschratter
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kötter
authors.forename: Heiko J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Luhmann
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zilles
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology; D008239:Lysine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D019579:Neocortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide; C013411:biocytin; D008239:Lysine