title: Recruitment of local inhibitory networks by horizontal connections in layer 2/3 of ferret visual cortex.
abstract: To investigate how neurons in cortical layer 2/3 integrate horizontal inputs arising from widely distributed sites, we combined intracellular recording and voltage-sensitive dye imaging to visualize the spatiotemporal dynamics of neuronal activity evoked by electrical stimulation of multiple sites in visual cortex. Individual stimuli evoked characteristic patterns of optical activity, while delivering stimuli at multiple sites generated interacting patterns in the regions of overlap. We observed that neurons in overlapping regions received convergent horizontal activation that generated nonlinear responses due to the emergence of large inhibitory potentials. The results indicate that co-activation of multiple sets of horizontal connections recruit strong inhibition from local inhibitory networks, causing marked deviations from simple linear integration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. ttucker@neuro.duke.edu
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.forename: Lawrence C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Katz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005289:Ferrets; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents