Cortex-wide Changes in Extracellular Potassium Ions Parallel Brain State Transitions in Awake Behaving Mice.

ABSTRACT: Brain state fluctuations modulate sensory processing, but the factors governing state-dependent neural activity remain unclear. Here, we tracked the dynamics of cortical extracellular K⁺ concentrations ([K⁺]_o) during awake state transitions and manipulated [K⁺]_o in slices, during visual processing, and during skilled motor execution. When mice transitioned from quiescence to locomotion, [K⁺]_o increased by 0.6-1.0 mM in all cortical areas analyzed, and this preceded locomotion by 1 s. Emulating the state-dependent [K⁺]_o increase in cortical slices caused neuronal depolarization and enhanced input-output transformation. In vivo, locomotion increased the gain of visually evoked responses in laye

SUBMITTER: Rasmussen R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6790006 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature