title: Layer and frequency dependencies of phase response properties of pyramidal neurons in rat motor cortex.
abstract: It is postulated that synchronous firing of cortical neurons plays an active role in cognitive functions of the brain. An important issue is whether pyramidal neurons in different cortical layers exhibit similar tendencies to synchronise. To address this issue, we performed intracellular and whole-cell recordings of regular-spiking pyramidal neurons in slice preparations of the rat motor cortex (18-45 days old) and analysed the phase response curves of these pyramidal neurons in layers 2/3 and 5. The phase response curve represents how an external stimulus affects the timing of spikes immediately after the stimulus in repetitively firing neurons. The phase response curve can be classified into two categories, type 1 (the spike is always advanced) and type 2 (the spike is advanced or delayed depending on the stimulus phase), and are important determinants of whether or not rhythmic synchronization of neuron pairs occurs. We found that pyramidal neurons in layer 2/3 tend to display type-2 phase response curves whereas those in layer 5 tend to exhibit type-1 phase response curves. The differences were prominent particularly in the gamma-frequency range (20-45 Hz). Our results imply that the layer-2/3 pyramidal neurons, when coupled mutually through fast excitatory synapses, may exhibit a much stronger tendency for rhythmic synchronization than layer-5 neurons in the gamma-frequency range.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Neural Circuit Theory, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. tsubo@brain.riken.jp
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsubo
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takada
authors.forename: Alex D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Tomoki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D018756:GABA Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D018756:GABA Antagonists