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Stimulus evoked layer-specific activity in vitro and in silico in the rat somatosensory cortex

Christopher B. Thornton1, 2*, Yujiang Wang1, 2, Anupam Hazra2, Mark Cunningham2 and Marcus Kaiser1, 2
  • 1 Newcastle University, School of Computer Science, United Kingdom
  • 2 Newcastle University, Institute of Neuroscience, United Kingdom

Detailed maps of cell type-specific synaptic connectivity in the cortical microcircuit are now available for various regions and species, including that of rat somatosensory cortex provided by The Neocortical Microcircuit Collaboration Portal. Using this map and VERTEX (the Virtual Electrode Recording Tool for EXtracellular potentials) we generated a three-dimensional multilayered network representative of an in vitro slice preparation. We wished to investigate the relationship between the synaptic connectivity described here and the dynamics one would record in vitro. So we simulated the neuronal dynamics and local field potential generated by this network after transient stimulation of layer 4 pyramidal cells and then compared this to the layer-specific local field potential and mulit-unit activity recorded in vitro as a result of electric field stimulation. This data was recorded using a multi electrode array from slices made hyper-excitable by perfusion with 4-amino-pyridine and stimulated in layer 4 using a bipolar electrode. Here we see a larger response in the deeper layers, in particular in the multi-unit activity. Through our model, we show the extent to which the synaptic connectivity contributes to this layer-specific response in the rat somatosensory cortex.

Acknowledgements

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

References

Ramaswamy, S., Courcol, J.-D., Abdellah, M., Adaszewski, S. R., Antille, N., Arsever, S., Markram, H. (2015). The neocortical microcircuit collaboration portal: a resource for rat somatosensory cortex. Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 9(October), 44. doi:10.3389/fncir.2015.00044

Tomsett, R. J., Ainsworth, M., Thiele, A., Sanayei, M., Chen, X., Gieselmann, M. A., … Kaiser, M. (2014). Virtual Electrode Recording Tool for EXtracellular potentials (VERTEX): comparing multi-electrode recordings from simulated and biological mammalian cortical tissue. Brain Structure and Function. doi:10.1007/s00429-014-0793-x

Keywords: microcircuit, Stimulus evoked activity, layered network, connectivity map, rat, Somatosensory Cortex, local field potential

Conference: Neuroinformatics 2016, Reading, United Kingdom, 3 Sep - 4 Sep, 2016.

Presentation Type: Poster

Topic: Electrophysiology

Citation: Thornton CB, Wang Y, Hazra A, Cunningham M and Kaiser M (2016). Stimulus evoked layer-specific activity in vitro and in silico in the rat somatosensory cortex. Front. Neuroinform. Conference Abstract: Neuroinformatics 2016. doi: 10.3389/conf.fninf.2016.20.00033

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Received: 29 Apr 2016; Published Online: 18 Jul 2016.

* Correspondence: Mr. Christopher B Thornton, Newcastle University, School of Computer Science, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Weir, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, c.thornton@ncl.ac.uk