title: Intrinsic subthreshold oscillations extend the influence of inhibitory synaptic inputs on cortical pyramidal neurons.
abstract: Fast inhibitory synaptic inputs, which cause conductance changes that typically last for 10-100 ms, participate in the generation and maintenance of cortical rhythms. We show here that these fast events can have influences that outlast the duration of the synaptic potentials by interacting with subthreshold membrane potential oscillations. Inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) in cortical neurons in vitro shifted the oscillatory phase for several seconds. The phase shift caused by two IPSPs or two current pulses summed non-linearly. Cholinergic neuromodulation increased the power of the oscillations and decreased the magnitude of the phase shifts. These results show that the intrinsic conductances of cortical pyramidal neurons can carry information about inhibitory inputs and can extend the integration window for synaptic input.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA. stiefel@salk.edu
authors.forename: Klaus M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Stiefel
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fellous
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Terrence J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Sejnowski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D053444:Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010507:Periodicity; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*