title: Dissecting the dynamics of corticothalamic feedback.
abstract: The thalamus and neocortex are intimately interconnected via a reciprocal arrangement of feedforward and feedback projections. In this issue of Neuron, Crandall et al. (2015) provide key insight into the functional dynamics of feedback projections and reveal the cellular and circuit mechanisms that underlie a rate-dependent switch in the net influence, suppression versus excitation, that cortex can exert on thalamic relay cells.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95618, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Henry J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Alitto
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95618, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA. Electronic address: wmusrey@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: W Martin
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Usrey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000502:physiology*