Temporal Sharpening of Sensory Responses by Layer V in the Mouse Primary Somatosensory Cortex.

ABSTRACT: The timing of stimulus-evoked spikes encodes information about sensory stimuli. Here we studied the neural circuits controlling this process in the mouse primary somatosensory cortex. We found that brief optogenetic activation of layer V pyramidal cells just after whisker deflection modulated the membrane potential of neurons and interrupted their long-latency whisker responses, increasing their accuracy in encoding whisker deflection time. In contrast, optogenetic inhibition of layer V during either passive whisker deflection or active whisking decreased accuracy in encoding stimulus or touch time, respectively. Suppression of layer V pyramidal cells increased reaction times in a texture discrimination task. Moreover, two-color optogenetic experiments revealed that cortical inhibition was

SUBMITTER: Vecchia D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7198976 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature