title: Thalamic control of cortical states.
abstract: We investigated the impact of thalamus on ongoing cortical activity in the awake, behaving mouse. We demonstrate that the desynchronized cortical state during active behavior is driven by a centrally generated increase in thalamic action potential firing, which can also be mimicked by optogenetic stimulation of the thalamus. The thalamus therefore is key in controlling cortical states.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: James F A
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Poulet
authors.forename: Laura M J
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crochet
authors.forename: Carl C H
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Petersen
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000075402:Channelrhodopsins; D003344:Cortical Synchronization / Q000502:physiology*; D003714:Denervation; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000294:innervation; D014851:Wakefulness
chemical_list: D000075402:Channelrhodopsins