title: Texture coarseness responsive neurons and their mapping in layer 2-3 of the rat barrel cortex in vivo.
abstract: Texture discrimination is a fundamental function of somatosensory systems, yet the manner by which texture is coded and spatially represented in the barrel cortex are largely unknown. Using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in the rat barrel cortex during artificial whisking against different surface coarseness or controlled passive whisker vibrations simulating different coarseness, we show that layer 2-3 neurons within barrel boundaries differentially respond to specific texture coarsenesses, while only a minority of neurons responded monotonically with increased or decreased surface coarseness. Neurons with similar preferred texture coarseness were spatially clustered. Multi-contact single unit recordings showed a vertical columnar organization of texture coarseness preference in layer 2-3. These findings indicate that layer 2-3 neurons perform high hierarchical processing of tactile information, with surface coarseness embodied by distinct neuronal subpopulations that are spatially mapped onto the barrel cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Liora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Garion
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dubin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Yoav
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khateb
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Yitzhak
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Schiller
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Rony
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Azouz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Jackie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schiller
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology*; D014966:Xanthenes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; C409648:Fluo 4; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D014966:Xanthenes
keywords: barrel cortex; layer 2–3; neuroscience; rat; texture representation