A radial map of multi-whisker correlation selectivity in the rat barrel cortex

Nat Commun. 2016 Nov 21:7:13528. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13528.

Abstract

In the barrel cortex, several features of single-whisker stimuli are organized in functional maps. The barrel cortex also encodes spatio-temporal correlation patterns of multi-whisker inputs, but so far the cortical mapping of neurons tuned to such input statistics is unknown. Here we report that layer 2/3 of the rat barrel cortex contains an additional functional map based on neuronal tuning to correlated versus uncorrelated multi-whisker stimuli: neuron responses to uncorrelated multi-whisker stimulation are strongest above barrel centres, whereas neuron responses to correlated and anti-correlated multi-whisker stimulation peak above the barrel-septal borders, forming rings of multi-whisker synchrony-preferring cells.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain Mapping*
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Male
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Sensory Receptor Cells / physiology
  • Vibrissae / physiology*

Substances

  • Calcium