Intracortical Network Effects Preserve Thalamocortical Input Efficacy in a Cortex Without Layers.
Layer IV (LIV) of the rodent somatosensory cortex contains the somatotopic barrel field. Barrels receive much of the sensory input to the cortex through innervation by thalamocortical axons from the ventral posteromedial nucleus. In the reeler mouse, the absence of cortical layers results in the formation of mispositioned barrel-equivalent clusters of LIV fated neurons. Although functional imaging suggests that sensory input activates the cortex, little is known about the cellular and synaptic properties of identified excitatory neurons of the reeler cortex. We examined the properties of thalamic input to spiny stellate (SpS) neurons in the reeler cortex with in vitro electrophysiology, optogenetics, and subcellular channelrhodopsin-2-assisted circuit mapping (sCRACM). Our results indicate that reeler SpS neurons receive direct but weakened input from the thalamus, with a dispersed spatial distribution along the somatodendritic arbor. These results further document subtle alterations in functional connectivity concomitant of absent layering in the reeler mutant. We suggest that intracortical amplification mechanisms compensate for this weakening in order to allow reliable sensory transmission to the mutant neocortex.
Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute for Anatomy, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Julien
J
Guy
Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute for Anatomy, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Alexandra
A
Sachkova
Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute for Anatomy, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Martin
M
Möck
Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute for Anatomy, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Mirko
M
Witte
Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
Robin J
RJ
Wagener
Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute for Anatomy, University Medical Center, Georg-August-University, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.|DFG Center for Nanoscale Microscopy & Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CNMPB), 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
Jochen F
JF
Staiger
D000818:Animals; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D019579:Neocortex / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D062308:Optogenetics / Q000379:methods; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000502:physiology*; D020651:Ventral Thalamic Nuclei / Q000502:physiology
electrophysiology; optogenetics; reeler; sCRACM; thalamocortical