Voltage-sensitive dye imaging reveals shifting spatiotemporal spread of whisker-induced activity in rat barrel cortex.

ABSTRACT: In rats, navigating through an environment requires continuous information about objects near the head. Sensory information such as object location and surface texture are encoded by spike firing patterns of single neurons within rat barrel cortex. Although there are many studies using single-unit electrophysiology, much less is known regarding the spatiotemporal pattern of activity of populations of neurons in barrel cortex in response to whisker stimulation. To examine cortical response at the population level, we used voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging to examine ensemble spatiotemporal dynamics of barrel cortex in response to stimulation of single or two adjacent whiskers in urethane-anesthetized rats. Single whisker stimulation produced a poststimulus fluorescence response peak withi

SUBMITTER: Lustig BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3652220 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature