Electrosensory Midbrain Neurons Display Feature Invariant Responses to Natural Communication Stimuli.

ABSTRACT: Neurons that respond selectively but in an invariant manner to a given feature of natural stimuli have been observed across species and systems. Such responses emerge in higher brain areas, thereby suggesting that they occur by integrating afferent input. However, the mechanisms by which such integration occurs are poorly understood. Here we show that midbrain electrosensory neurons can respond selectively and in an invariant manner to heterogeneity in behaviorally relevant stimulus waveforms. Such invariant responses were not seen in hindbrain electrosensory neurons providing afferent input to these midbrain neurons, suggesting that response invariance results from nonlinear integration of such input. To test this hypothesis, we built a model based on the Hodgkin-Huxley formalism that rec

SUBMITTER: Aumentado-Armstrong T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4608831 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature