title: Sensory coding by cerebellar mossy fibres through inhibition-driven phase resetting and synchronisation.
abstract: Temporal coding of spike-times using oscillatory mechanisms allied to spike-time dependent plasticity could represent a powerful mechanism for neuronal communication. However, it is unclear how temporal coding is constructed at the single neuronal level. Here we investigate a novel class of highly regular, metronome-like neurones in the rat brainstem which form a major source of cerebellar afferents. Stimulation of sensory inputs evoked brief periods of inhibition that interrupted the regular firing of these cells leading to phase-shifted spike-time advancements and delays. Alongside phase-shifting, metronome cells also behaved as band-pass filters during rhythmic sensory stimulation, with maximal spike-stimulus synchronisation at frequencies close to the idiosyncratic firing frequency of each neurone. Phase-shifting and band-pass filtering serve to temporally align ensembles of metronome cells, leading to sustained volleys of near-coincident spike-times, thereby transmitting synchronised sensory information to downstream targets in the cerebellar cortex.
authors: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. th247@cam.ac.uk
authors: Tahl
authors: T
authors: Holtzman
authors: Henrik
authors: H
authors: Jörntell
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D010507:Periodicity; D051381:Rats; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*