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Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex

The neocortex is spontaneously active, however, the origin of this self-generated, patterned activity remains unknown. To detect potential “pacemaker cells,” we use calcium imaging to directly identify neurons that discharge action potentials in the absence of synaptic transmissionin slices from juv...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Le Bon-Jego, Morgane, Yuste, Rafael
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Research Foundation 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2518052/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18982123
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/neuro.01.1.1.009.2007
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author Le Bon-Jego, Morgane
Yuste, Rafael
author_facet Le Bon-Jego, Morgane
Yuste, Rafael
author_sort Le Bon-Jego, Morgane
collection PubMed
description The neocortex is spontaneously active, however, the origin of this self-generated, patterned activity remains unknown. To detect potential “pacemaker cells,” we use calcium imaging to directly identify neurons that discharge action potentials in the absence of synaptic transmissionin slices from juvenile mouse visual cortex. We characterize 60 of these neurons electrophysiologically and morphologically, finding that they belong to two classes of cells: one class composed of pyramidal neurons with a thin apical dendritic tree and a second class composed of ascending axon interneurons (Martinotti cells) located in layer 5. In both types of neurons, persistent sodium currents are necessary for the generation of the spontaneous activity. Our data demonstrate that subtypes of neocortical neurons have intrinsic mechanisms to generate persistent activity. Like in central pattern generators (CPGs), these neurons may act as “pacemakers” to initiate or pattern spontaneous activity in the neocortex.
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spelling pubmed-25180522008-11-03 Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex Le Bon-Jego, Morgane Yuste, Rafael Front Neurosci Neuroscience The neocortex is spontaneously active, however, the origin of this self-generated, patterned activity remains unknown. To detect potential “pacemaker cells,” we use calcium imaging to directly identify neurons that discharge action potentials in the absence of synaptic transmissionin slices from juvenile mouse visual cortex. We characterize 60 of these neurons electrophysiologically and morphologically, finding that they belong to two classes of cells: one class composed of pyramidal neurons with a thin apical dendritic tree and a second class composed of ascending axon interneurons (Martinotti cells) located in layer 5. In both types of neurons, persistent sodium currents are necessary for the generation of the spontaneous activity. Our data demonstrate that subtypes of neocortical neurons have intrinsic mechanisms to generate persistent activity. Like in central pattern generators (CPGs), these neurons may act as “pacemakers” to initiate or pattern spontaneous activity in the neocortex. Frontiers Research Foundation 2007-10-15 /pmc/articles/PMC2518052/ /pubmed/18982123 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/neuro.01.1.1.009.2007 Text en Copyright: © 2007 Le Bon-Jego and Yuste. http://www.frontiersin.org/licenseagreement This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Le Bon-Jego, Morgane
Yuste, Rafael
Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex
title Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex
title_full Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex
title_fullStr Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex
title_full_unstemmed Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex
title_short Persistently Active, Pacemaker-Like Neurons in Neocortex
title_sort persistently active, pacemaker-like neurons in neocortex
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2518052/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18982123
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/neuro.01.1.1.009.2007
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